Hummus: Keeping Your Herbs in Check

Having fresh herbs within arm's reach is one of the best parts of summer, but don't turn your back for a minute!  Your basil will get woody; your dill will get flowery.  Those two love being clipped, so they can send out new growth.  Hummus is one way to use a lot of those herbs in between other delicious recipes.  You will need a food processor for sure.

I keep the basic ingredients for hummus year round, but adding fresh herbs in the summer makes something very simple sing.  One slight difference is that I never have tahini, so look elsewhere for a how-to that includes the tasty sesame seed paste.

3 cups cooked garbanzo beans, or 2 cans
juice from 1/2 of a lemon (Add as much as you want!)
2 garlic cloves (crushed and minced)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 to 2 teaspoons sea salt
¼ cup water reserved from the can of beans
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil*

*Below are the modifications I make to the basic plan.   I hold off on the olive oil because I use sun dried tomatoes packed in oil.   Some of the oil comes with them, so I eyeball how much of the other olive oil I should use to make up for the difference.

If you want to add Parmesan cheese, skip the salt.   You can adjust the salt to taste at the end of the blend.

Give two handfuls of sun dried tomatoes a rough chop and add them to the bowl.

Add a teaspoon of dried pepper flakes.

At this point, I add either dill or basil because those are the two that always need clipping.

If you are adding fresh dill, you can snip it with scissors.

If you are adding basil, you can do a quick chiffonade.

All of this goes for a spin in the food processor.  Add as much of the herbs as you want.  A spatula will help you scrape down the sides, so everything gets blended.

Hummus is a treat that's easy to share, so you may as well make a second batch while you've dirtied up the bowl of your food processor.  

Dreaming of Summer's Meat and Three

I'm starting to reminisce on last year's summer garden.  We had such great luck with tomatoes and peppers that I could just cry about it every time I'm in the produce section of the local markets.  Tomatoes aren't fit for consumption until after July 4th; I only eat grape tomatoes from the grocery store to carry me through the winter.  Sure, I use canned tomato products for soups and chillies and such, but I turn my nose up to any tomato larger than a grape after the season ends in the fall.

You'll know you're almost to the Farmer's Daughter when you see this beehive.

Last year we had the sprawlinest yellow pear tomato vines you ever did see.  We didn't stake, cage and trellis our plants at all the right times...and when we got those vines off of the dirt...it was on.  Those yellow pears could have easily trapped passing garden enthusiasts, if they stayed in one spot too long.

We picked those plants up at the Farmer's Daughter on 17, along with some black cherry tomatoes that had already been started by people with more patience than I have.  Being an heirloom, I didn't have high expectations for the black cherry, so I didn't leave her enough room.  She was gorgeous, a sight to behold.  She also produced fruit well into the fall.

Black cherry tomatoes in my McCarty pottery bowl from Merigold, MS.

Jalapenos and Hungarian wax peppers.

During the summer, there are so many wonderful sides, the main course doesn't have to me so, well, main.   I have a simple recipe for you that you can use when your seasonal fruits and vegetables take up a lot of room on your plate.  Get ready for Perfect Pan Roasted Chicken Thighs!  You'll need a cast iron skillet, skin-on chicken thighs, salt, pepper and oil...and a day where setting your oven to 475 F for about 18 minutes of cook time won't put you flat out on the kitchen floor.  In addition to the directions in this recipe, I trim down the excess chicken skin; there will be plenty left for the fat to render.  

Also, I highly recommend buying some handle mitts.  Cast iron is heavy, and I can never get a safe grip using a tea towel and my small hands.  I tend to burn oven mitts, so slipping a mitt on the handle works better for me.  If you don't have your family's cast iron, Le Creuset's enameled cast iron will put you in the poor house, but you'll still want to make a spot in your bed for your precious cookware...it's that awesome.  In the list of items-to-grab-on-your-way-out-of-your-burning-house, your Le Creuset will be in your top ten.  (T.J. Maxx sometimes sells this brand, but the sticker is still shocking, if you are not independently wealthy.)  If you frequent Cracker Barrel, they usually carry Lodge cast iron in their store shop, but I haven't tried that brand yet.

Bruce's Complete Sweet Potato Pancake & Waffle Mix

I can't remember when I discovered Bruce's Complete Sweet Potato Pancake & Waffle Mix, but it was a very good day.  It's possible that you've seen the small bags of it in your own local grocery store; those bags are too small.  You need to go a size up.  If you are unable to find it in your usual haunts, you may want to try a Fresh Market before arranging to have any boxes mailed to you out of desperation.  

While you are shopping, you may also want to pick up some pecans or walnuts.   And that banana that's going south on your kitchen counter, you can add that to the mix as well.

Bruce Foods Corporation is based in New Iberia, Louisiana.   Tabasco sauce is from the same parish, but something tells me you already know all about that pantry item. Please enjoy watching those sweet little bottles winding their way through the factory.