Hummus Along if You Don't Know the Words

A while back I did an article about my favorite kabob place and included a recipe for their hummus. It is the best stuff going. It's luscious and garlicky and bright with lemon flavor. But what really wins me over is the texture. It is smooth as silk and on the thin side. I don't like the typical consistency of commercial hummus that could double as sealant. The restaurant makes it from dried garbanzo beans and I was convinced this was the secret. I steered clear of recipes calling for canned beans because I feared it would give pasty results. Turns out the trick is in the tools, not so much the ingredients. The Vita-Mix absolutely demolishes the beans. No graininess remains. I'm free to make hummus again and not have it cling to the roof of my mouth.

Hummus

(Adapted from Saveur magazine)

Makes 4 cups

2 15-ounce cans chickpeas, reserving 3/4 cup of the canning liquid

1/2 cup, plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

6 tablespoons tahini

3 garlic cloves

Salt

Olive oil

Paprika

Drain chickpeas, reserving liquid. Put chickpeas into the container of the Vita-Mix, add the reserved liquid and 1/4 cup water. Start on variable #1, increase to 7 and run for 30 seconds. Scrape down sides and run on high for another 30 seconds, until mixture is fairly smooth.

With the motor running on #7, add lemon juice through the open lid. Add tahini, garlic and salt. Blend until smooth, at least a minute. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Garnish hummus with some olive oil and paprika. Serve with pita bread, crackers or crudites.

Manly Lemon Loaf

As you have probably figured out by now, I'm very taken with bread. It just doesn't seem the usual thing to come out of a blender-like machine (Thor, forgive me for using the B-word). This delicate sounding loaf captured my attention specifically because it is in a cook book devoted to "Every Guy's Guide to Cooking with a Blender". The idea that a lemon-poppy seed tea loaf should be in a man's go-to arsenal of recipes amuses me. 

One big advantage to doing this in the Vita-Mix as opposed to the standard blender is you don't have to fuss with the lemon peel. No need to grate it or chop it. Just throw it in and the blades do the rest.

Poppy's Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

Adapted from "A Man's Whirled"

Makes 1 loaf

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick unsalted butter, softened almost to melting

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons poppy seeds

1 lemon, zest peeled and juiced (reserve juice)

1/3 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Glaze

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Reserved lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl large enough to add the wet ingredients and mix with a whisk to aerate. 

Combine butter and sugar in container of Vita-Mix. Start on variable #1 and increase speed to #5. Tamper the sides down. Stop once to scrape and combine with a spatula. Run the motor again to completely combine.

Add the eggs, poppy seeds and lemon peel. Continue to blend on #5 until ingredients come together and mixture is smooth. Add milk and vanilla and blend an additional 20 seconds or until smooth.

Empty liquid mixture into the flour mixture and fold together with a spatula until just combined. Do not over mix.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Remove and cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Use a knife to gently free the sides of the bread from the pan and remove the loaf.

While the loaf is cooling make the glaze:

Combine the sugar and lemon juice in Vita-Mix container and blend on low for 15 to 20 seconds, or until smooth.

Put the bread on a sheet of aluminum foil. Using a fork, poke several holes along the top of the loaf and coat with glaze, pouring the glaze slowly along the crown of the loaf. Let cool completely before slicing