Cooking: Improved hummus recipe, better roasted garlic

Now that I've dusted this old recipe off and have been making it
regularly again, I've been experimenting with a few changes.

More chickpea water and oil, using good sea salt, and a slightly
different processing regime improve the texture noticeably (not that
it was bad before).

I also re-evaluated how I roast garlic, and this new method has a
distinctly improved flavor over my old method. The old method didn't
damage the garlic's cell walls, so it didn't develop a strong garlicky
flavor.

diff --git a/Hummus.muse b/Hummus.muse
index d17ca0d..b178cfd 100644 (file)
--- a/Hummus.muse
+++ b/Hummus.muse
@@ -4,16 +4,16 @@ Yields around one quart
 
  - 1 cup dried chick peas (or two cans; if using cans, try to find "no
    salt added" to avoid making things too salty)
- - 1/4 cup liquid from chick peas (or vegetable stock)
- - 8 cloves (one head) of [[Roasted Garlic]]
+ - 1/2 cup liquid from chick peas
+ - One head (~8 cloves) of [[Roasted Garlic]]
  - Medium red bell pepper, roasted
  - 2 tsp paprika
  - 1 tbsp dried flaked maras biberi or aleppo pepper (recommended, but
    not required)
  - 1 tbsp ground cumin
- - 1/2 tsp table salt
+ - 1 tsp fine grained sea salt
  - 5 tbsp (~1 lemon) fresh lemon juice
- - 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (if you can get your hands on it,
+ - 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (if you can get your hands on it,
    [[http://www.palestineoliveoil.org/][Holy Land]] is great)
  - 5 tbsp tahini
 
@@ -37,27 +37,36 @@ Scorch the skin off of the bell pepper over flame or under a broiler
 (optional -- I leave the skins on and notice no difference), and then
 [[https://web.archive.org/web/20130527144021/http://www.ochef.com/158.htm][roast the pepper]]:
 
-    To roast the pepper, put the cut pieces in a baking dish with a
-    little oil and pop it into a 400°F (205°C) oven, until the pieces
-    are tender and slightly browned, about 35 minutes.
+    To roast the pepper, put the cut pieces in a baking dish with
+    about two tablespoons of oil and pop it into a 400°F (205°C) oven,
+    stirring every 15 minutes, until the pieces are tender and
+    slightly blackened on the edges, about 45 minutes.
 
 Conveniently, this is the same temperature garlic is roasted at, so
-you can roast both at the same time.
+you can roast both at the same time. I like mine a little blackened on
+the edges, but you don't want to go *too* far, as bell pepper can pass
+from roasted with just a touch of char to burnt and sad pretty easily.
 
 ** And Now for the Actual Hummus
 
  1. Prepare the beans (or open canned beans).
- 1. Add beans, roasted garlic, and chickpea water to food processor work
-    bowl; process for two minutes.
- 1. Add lemon juice; process for one minute
- 1. Add tahini, roasted bell pepper, salt, cumin, and paprika; process
-    for one minute.
- 1. Drizzle olive oil in while processing for three minutes.
+ 1. Mix lemon juice and chickpea water
+ 1. Whisk tahini and olive oil together
+ 1. Add beans, roasted garlic, roasted pepper, and spices to food
+    processor work bowl; process for around 15 seconds
+ 1. Process for 60 seconds while drizzling in chickpea water and lemon
+    juice mixture
+ 1. Process additional 60 seconds
+ 1. Process for two minutes, drizzling in olive oil and tahini mixture
+ 1. Process additional three minutes
  1. Garnish if you desire (minced garlic, capers, coarsely ground
-    black pepper, and olive oil for example).
+    black pepper, and olive oil with a whole olive or three in the
+    center for example).
  1. Take to a gathering of some sort.
  1. Watch the hummus evaporate.
 
+Scrape sides of work bowl between processing runs if needed.
+
 * Notes
 
 One time I decided to make hummus for folks and alas! I forgot to soak

diff --git a/Roasted Garlic.muse b/Roasted Garlic.muse
index 2f5e630..894ccbc 100644 (file)
--- a/Roasted Garlic.muse
+++ b/Roasted Garlic.muse
@@ -6,11 +6,11 @@
 * Directions
 
  1. Preheat oven to 400°F
- 1. Separate the cloves of the garlic heads; leave the skin on the
-    individual cloves (only removing lose bits of skin).
- 1. Put onto a piece of aluminum foil and throw a tablesoon of olive
-    oil on top of the cloves.
- 1. Rub the olive oil over the cloves
+ 1. Remove papery skin, keeping head intact
+ 1. Chop tops of cloves off (to ensure cell walls are damaged and
+    garlic flavor can develop)
+ 1. Put onto a piece of aluminum foil and drizzle a tablesoon of olive
+    oil on top of the cloves, making sure it soaks into cut
  1. Turn the foil into a pouch and roast in a preheated 400°F oven for
     an hour