Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Hummus is a delicious Middle Eastern/Mediterranean spread. It has a great smooth texture and is quick to whip up with mostly pantry ingredients. In Bloomington it's a little elusive, especially at Kroger... so months after Don told me how easy it was to prepare I ventured out to make it.

Reasons to make your own hummus:

1. It's simple: Combine ingredients, blend, enjoy!
2. It's cheapcheap: The main ingredient, chickpeas, is about 70Cents for a can- beat that, store-bought brands! The tahini is more of a speciality ingredient, but it can be used in other recipes as well.
3. Once you start with a basic recipe you can experiment freely until you find what you like. There is no right or wrong here, follow your taste buds.
4. It's tasty: you can be super healthy and eat it with veggies or pita chips, or you can deep fry it! Yeah! ... just kidding : ). You can also try some on your next sandwich, or even schmearing some on a bagel with some lettuce, tomato and onion.
5. It's healthy: Few ingredients, and a lot of nutrition for your buck.

Below is a recipe for plain hummus. You can start from here, and add red roasted peppers or other ingredients if you wish.

Basic Hummus
1 15 oz. can of chickpeas
2 Tbs. Tahini*
1-2 Tbs. Olive Oil
3 Tbs. Lemon juice
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
salt to taste
2 cloves of garlic, minced
some water

*a word about Tahini. Tahini is a sesame paste used in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cooking. It's about $8 per jar which is a lot, I know! Using tahini gives hummus an authentic middle eastern flavor. That being said, you could make hummus without tahini and use olive oil, or another oil that you like, it just won't be middle eastern persay.

I recommend rinsing off the chickpeas, they're usually packaged with lots of sodium. Canned chickpeas are a little crunchy, which you may like. If you desire an supremely smooth and creamy hummus you can nuke them in the microwave for a few minutes until the chickpeas are more tender. Combine all ingredients into food processor and pulse until smooth and creamy. If the consistency is too dry add some water to thin it. You may need to scrape the sides down to incorporate all the ingredients.

To serve: You can garnish your delicious hummus with some chopped parsley and a drizzle of olive oil, and some chopped olives. Serve with veggies, toasted pita chips, whatever you've got on hand!

Variations: You can be creative here, some common additions are roasted red peppers, toasted pine nuts, olives, ground cumin, or some cilantro blended in. I personally love roasted red pepper, which is a cinch if you buy them in the jar.

if you were curious

Cent'Anni (Centi Anni) is an Italian saying which literally translates as 100 years. It can be translated as "may you live to be one hundred years!" pretty positive, right? Eating well and living long seem like two things that should go together, which might explain all the old people in Italy? I suggested that my friend in Italy, Mina, marry a rich old man so she could inherit all his money when he dies and pay for college, and she said "It would take too long! In Italy, there are a lot of old people, but they never die!" I guess it's good that Mina got a scholarship...
The picture is from Ischia, the island where my dad grew up in Italy. Granted he came over when he was nine and hasn't been back in years, but it's gorgeous over there! It's by the Amalfi Coast, and let me tell you, the lemons are almost as big as your head, they're massive!