Ah blog, how I’ve missed you. Between sailing 500 miles , starting a new job here, and gorging myself on veggies from my new Mariquita Farm CSA box this has been a very, very busy month. So busy, in fact, that it’s already time for another Vintage Recipe Swap! I know Christianna has been busy too. How she manages to keep all us swappers supplied with recipe inspiration while balancing the rest of her life I will never know.
As crazy has things are these days, this swap was an easy one for me. Tomato pudding, you say? A condiment for meat? What a waste of a good pudding! The recipe Christianna supplied this month is tempting enough to try unaltered. Since it isn’t exactly tomato season, though, I’m stashing this dish away for a summer day when tomatoes make an appearance in my CSA box.
As odd as it seemed to use this dish as a condiment, I found myself taking the condiment route for my interpretation of “Tomato Pudding”. Ketchup, hot sauce, various vinegars, mustard, salsa…all those saucy spicy things we slather on our food are some of my favorite things to eat. I learned from my father to generously pepper and Tabasco my eggs. Lately, though, humus is undoubtedly my favorite topping, sauce, dressing, and spread. It’s multipurpose, healthy, and comes in enough variations to keep me entertained.
I don’t know why it took me so long to start making my own humus, or to take the next step of cooking dried beans for that purpose. It’s not difficult and really doesn’t requite that much more time. Humus as become a staple of my busy work week lunches. I couldn’t dish out nearly as many sandwiches, salads, or dipping veggies as I do without it.
I’ve made several humus and bean dip variations in the past couple months, playing with ingredients to get the optimum consistency and flavor. I encourage anyone who hasn’t tried it to make their own humus. Get creative with what you add and with how you use the finished product. I am completely addicted to humus + a splash of vinegar on a fresh green salad. My dad eats his humus on warm corn tortillas. My husband gobbles it with chips. I even stuffed wonton wrappers with one batch of homemade humus for some interesting ravioli.
I stuck with the tomato theme from the swapped pudding recipe. Sun dried tomatoes are so perfect with chickpeas. The thyme came from last weeks CSA box. My oh my to I love my CSA box. This is my first experience with community support agriculture and I am in love. Give me a box full of fantastic green stuff every week and I will eat it, no matter how much there is!
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes (from a jar, not dried)
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme
- 1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight (or about 2.5 cups cooked)
- 2 tbsp tahini
- splash of water
Instructions
- Cook chickpeas - I use a pressure cooker: cover the chickpeas with water in the cooker, add a tablespoon of olive oil to keep the froth down, cook for 7-8 minutes, remove from heat and allow pressure to come down naturally.
- Drain cooked or canned chickpeas.
- Place all ingredients in a large bowl (if using a hand blender), a food processor, or a blender.
- Blend until the humus reaches desired consistency, adding more water if you'd like it thinner or less for thicker humus.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge or freeze for later use.
Don’t forget, there are many other fantastic swappers out there!
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