{"id":371,"date":"2013-07-09T06:00:32","date_gmt":"2013-07-09T10:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.michellematlack.com\/blog\/?p=371"},"modified":"2014-06-13T15:52:27","modified_gmt":"2014-06-13T19:52:27","slug":"hummus-to-the-next-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.michellematlack.com\/blog\/2013\/07\/09\/hummus-to-the-next-level\/","title":{"rendered":"Hummus to the Next Level"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hummus has become as ubiquitous as salsa on the dip table. I occasionally buy hummus, but it tends to be a little salty for my palate and remember — I failed organic chemistry in college — so I have no earthly idea what “Potassium Sorbate” is. Also, I am now a little suspicious of “Natural Flavors” after a Facebook posting about the use of beaver castoreum <\/a>as a food additive (yes, I will eat raw oysters but no, I will not lick a beaver’s butt). So, I like to make my own hummus.<\/p>\n

A few months ago, I visited this hole-in-wall middle eastern grocer\/butcher looking for lamb ribs at my husband’s request (they were okay, but super gamey, and we won’t be barbecuing that cut again). I purchased this amazing condiment\u00a0 — preserved lemon<\/a>. They are whole lemons preserved in a salty brine. I guess you’d call them pickled? You take them out of the brine, rinse them, slice them in half or quarters, pull the pulp from the pith\/rind, and then slice them smaller as needed for your recipe. Over the winter I had done some lovely oven braises of lamb shoulder with tomatoes and this preserved lemon. It adds a deep lemony flavor without adding acidity — really nice with the lamb.<\/p>\n

So come warmer weather, the lemons are hanging out in the back of my fridge, and I decided to amp up my basic hummus preparation with these babies. OMG — just the right touch to take your hummus to the next level.<\/p>\n

Hummus with Preserved Lemons<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"SAMSUNG\"<\/a>2 – 4 cloves of garlic, peeled
\n2 preserved lemons, rinsed, pulp discarded, sliced into smaller pieces
\nTwo cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained, BUT reserve about 1\/4 cup of the canning liquid
\n2 – 4 tablespoons tahini
\n2 – 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
\nKosher salt<\/p>\n

Throw the garlic and lemon in the food processor and pulse until fine. I say 2 – 4 cloves of garlic because I like mine REALLY garlicky — others might like it a little milder.<\/p>\n

Add the chickpeas and pulse until finely chopped but not mush (I like to keep some chickpea texture). Add 2 tablespoons each of the tahini and olive oil and whir around — adding tahini and\/or olive oil until the desired texture. I say 2 – 4 tablespoons of tahini because it can vary in texture and you might need to add a little more or a little less to taste and preference. IF needed, add the canning liquid a tablespoon at a time to lighten up the texture.<\/p>\n

Taste for seasoning. You may need a touch of kosher salt, but watch it, because the lemons add a fair amount of salt. Refrigerate until ready to use — the flavors will meld together after a few hours in the fridge.<\/p>\n

Serve with sturdy dippers — like toasted pita chips, “scooper-style” tortilla chips, or thick pretzels.<\/p>\n

7\/10: Updated to add notes about canning liquid<\/em><\/p>\n

\"SAMSUNG\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hummus has become as ubiquitous as salsa on the dip table. I occasionally buy hummus, but it tends to be a little salty for my palate and remember — I failed organic chemistry in college — so I have no earthly idea what “Potassium Sorbate” is. Also, I am now a little suspicious of “Natural […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.michellematlack.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/2013-06-28-07.57.22.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4ImYM-5Z","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michellematlack.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michellematlack.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michellematlack.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michellematlack.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michellematlack.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.michellematlack.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":512,"href":"https:\/\/www.michellematlack.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371\/revisions\/512"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michellematlack.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michellematlack.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michellematlack.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michellematlack.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}