52 Weeks of Hummus //Healthy //Herbs //Potager //Recipes
Green Goddess Spring Hummus
March 24
3 min read
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Let’s Celebrate the Coming Spring
Celebrate the Spring Equinox by enjoying the bounty of the cool-season garden. This inspired hummus is a wonderful take on a traditional classic utilizing the best of the season. Great served with fresh spring veggies and flatbread, this hummus is delicious with roasted cauliflower, baked fish, or grilled chicken too.
The Modern Potager Kitchen Garden
The joy of the modern potager is getting to expand your culinary skills and make restaurant-quality meals at home. Picking fresh ingredients from the garden and turning them into something that awakens your tastebuds and thrills is really what life is all about.
It should come as no surprise that I have a high appreciation of historical foods as an heirloom gardener. One of the oldest and most historically relevant dishes in human history is hummus.
And I could eat hummus morning, noon, and night. On its own with fresh flatbreads, alongside eggs, or loaded with roasted veggies. It’s this love of hummus that led Matthew to adamantly state, “You cannot survive on hummus and cucumbers alone.” As we shared a plate of one of my favorite variations, roasted red pepper hummus, with radishes, cucumbers, and herbs from the showcase garden, the challenge of his statement kept dancing in my mind.
While it made me laugh in the moment, the notion that I could not survive off such a healthy dietary staple sent me down a path of cultural exploration and adventures in the kitchen for weeks on end. I wanted to understand the lore surrounding hummus and its impact upon the world. And truth be told, I wanted to discover if one could survive on hummus without getting bored.
In short, I’ve accepted the challenge to explore all that hummus has to offer in both traditional and new ways with the help of some fantastic local chefs, food bloggers, and a little creativity. Together, we’ll make a year’s worth of delicious hummus variations—52 recipes that feature the best of seasonal produce and pantry essentials.
We’ll test various cooking techniques, discussing the pros and cons of each method to achieve multiple results. While some chefs swear by using dried chickpeas and removing the skins, today’s high-powered blenders make quick work of tinned beans with their skins intact.
THE HISTORY OF HUMMUS
The earliest known origins of hummus date back to the 13th century, with several cultures claiming the creation of the savory dip. Yotam Ottolenghi, chef and cookbook author, writes about the hummus wars in his book “Jerusalem: A Cookbook.” But Israel isn’t the only country where people argue over the best hummus recipe. Palestinians, Egyptian Arabs, Greeks, and other Middle Eastern and Mediterranean countries also declare hummus as their dish, each region adding its own nuances.
The essence of the classic hummus recipe are chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, and salt. As cooking methods have changed over the centuries, the textural preferences and techniques used to create the creamiest dip have altered the base recipes.
HISTORY OF GREEN GODDESS DRESSING
It’s not a surprise that the origins of Green Goddess dressing can be traced to California. It’s the epitome of California cuisine: seasonal, fresh, clean, and bright.
Food historians Credit Chef Philip Roemer, of the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, for inventing Green Goddess salad dressing in 1923 to honor actor George Arliss, who was staying in the hotel while he starred in a play called “The Green Goddess.” The play and movies that feature Arliss are a definite miss, but it’s hard to deny: the herbaceous and tangy dressing is really good, despite the problematic origins of its name.
Despite shaky origins, the dressing became wildly popular across the United States (and beyond) used as a dip, sauce, and of course, served over salad greens. Today, the original recipe is almost completely out of vogue, with hundreds of variations but the essence of it’s delight – using fresh herbs – still remains.
Green Goddess Spring Hummus
Makes approximately 1 1/2 cups of fresh hummus | 4 servings
Created from years of making hummus
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups hydrated garbanzo beans/chickpeas (this is approximately 1 can), drained (reserve water brine)
2 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste)
1/2 cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
1/4 cup fresh chives or scallions, chopped
1/2 cup mixed, fresh tender herbs, roughly chopped – basil, tarragon, mint
2 roasted garlic cloves
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 small, ripe avocado, peeled
1 jalapeño, seeded + roughly chopped – optional
1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper
Splash of tarragon vinegar – apple cider or white wine vinegar work too
Pinch of sea salt
Glug of really good extra virgin olive oil – we love to use our garlic infused oil
Flaky sea salt
1 teaspoon mixed, fresh tender herbs – basil, chives, cilantro, parsley, mint
Freshly cracked pepper
Drizzle of really good extra virgin olive oil
1) Drain the hydrated garbanzo beans reserving the liquid to help thin the hummus, as needed. Place in a high-powered blender with tahini, roasted garlic, fresh herbs, lemon juice, thyme, avocado, jalapeño (if using), ground pepper, and a small pinch of sea salt. Blend at high speed until smooth, scraping down the sides if needed. If the mixture is not blending well, add 1-2 teaspoons of reserved bean liquid to help thin. Add one circle of olive oil (about 2 teaspoons) and blend again.
2) Place hummus in a shallow bowl or large serving platter. Garnish with minced fresh herbs and olive oil. Sprinkle with pepper and flaky salt for extra visual appeal.
Serve the hummus with warm flatbread and fresh garden veggies. Excellent accompaniment with spicy roasted cauliflower, roasted pork or fish, or grilled chicken.
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