Showing posts with label dip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dip. Show all posts

Monday, August 23, 2010

.roasted garlic hummus with fresh pita.


A few years ago, while we were stationed in Georgia, I surprised my husband to a trip to Savannah for his birthday. While we were in Savannah, we ate dinner at this little pizza place called The Mellow Mushroom and for the first time in my life, I had hummus. I had no idea what hummus was, but the waitress recommended it and we said, "Why not!" Let me just say my eyes were opened to a whole new world of food.

Since that time, I've had hummus multiple times. I've had good hummus. I've had bad hummus. I've had dill hummus. I've had roasted red pepper hummus. One thing I think we can all agree on (all you hummus lovers out there) is nothing compares to good, homemade hummus. (Did I say hummus enough times in that paragraph???)

The other night, an online friend mentioned The Mellow Mushroom and I immediately started craving a batch of roasted garlic hummus with FRESH pita. Now you could buy that store bought, I'm dry as bark, pita bread, but I'm telling you, once you have fresh, there ain't no goin' back! If you take the time to make pita yourself, you will love yourself forever and so will your family. It's easy easy easy. You can find the recipe here (you'll have to scroll past the souvlaki recipe) and if you make a double batch, you can wrap them in a freezer ziploc and have them ready anytime you want.

Now for the actual hummus recipe!

  • Begin by roasting your garlic. Take a bulb of garlic and chop off the top. Put it on a piece of foil, drizzle with a little olive oil, then wrap it up nice and tight. Pop in a 375* oven for 45 minutes. Roasted garlic is AMAZING!!! It mellows out the sharp pungency and almost makes the garlic sweet in flavor. Really delicious stuff. When it's done roasting, remove from the foil and let cool. When it's cool, just squeeze out each clove from the skin and put in a bowl. You can keep this in your fridge for up to a week. It's great in sauces and in homemade bread! For this recipe, you can use the whole shebang if you want, but I used 1 Tablespoon. Put it in a blender.
  • Add to the blender: Two 15.5 oz cans garbanzo beans, drained, the juice of 1 lemon, 2 Tbsp tahini, and a little sea salt.
  • Blitz for a minute.
  • Turn off and use a rubber spatula to move things around.
  • Turn the blender back on and slowly drizzle in some extra virgin olive oil. You'll have to keep turning the blender off and mixing by hand with the spatula. You don't want to add too much oil because the hummus will become runny. Keep doing this until the beans are completely pureed and the hummus is a smooth, yet thick, texture.
  • Transfer to a bowl and stir in a small handful of chopped cilantro. Taste and re-season with salt if it's needed.

Hummus will keep very well in the fridge for quite awhile, but I doubt it'll last that long, it's that good.

So go and eat hummus my friends! It's good for you and it's YUMMY!!!!

Thursday, April 3, 2008

.baked santa fe dip.


I came across this recipe in one of my magazines years ago when I lived in Hawaii. I was intrigued by the ingredients but thought I'd give it a try (I'd never made a hot dip using mayo before and had no clue what a chipotle pepper was!). I was asked to bring an appetizer dip to a church party and decided to bring this as my dish. Well, it was so good I didn't even get any because it was gone in 15 minutes. No joking! So, of course, I had to make it again at home so hubby and I could finally have some.

I have since made this dip numerous times and have had people even request me make it for parties. It is *that* awesome.

The chipotle pepper gives this dip a nice smoky flavor and the salsa (pico de gallo) on top is a wonderful cool contrast to the warm, cheesy dip. The original recipe says to serve this with jicama, but we use tortilla chips.

Here's the recipe.

In a large mixing bowl, put:
2 bags pre-shredded cheese mexican blend (8 cups total)
1 cup mayonnaise
1 can corn, drained
1 can diced green chiles
1 Tbsp chipotle pepper (in adobo sauce)*
1 tsp garlic powder

*Add more if you want more heat.


Mix well and put in a baking dish. You can make this ahead of time, cover with saran and hold in the fridge overnight.

When you're ready to serve, put in a 350* oven for about 30 minutes or until the cheese has melted and it's nice and bubbly.





While the dip is in the oven, make the pico de gallo.

In a bowl, mix together:
2 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 bunch green onion, chopped
chopped cilantro
squeeze of fresh lime
s&p

When the dip comes out of the oven, spoon the salsa down the middle of the dish. Serve immediately with tortlla chips.

For a healthier alternative, you can use reduced fat cheese and mayo. Serve with jicama or baked tortilla chips.

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_30hsxqvtfd