Garlic Lover's Hummus

I have always been a big fan of hummus (I think I first tried it in college) which is a sort of middle-eastern bean dip made from cooked chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans), garlic, tahini (a paste made from sesame seeds) and olive oil.

When my mom gave me a food processor for Christmas a couple of years ago I knew I would be making some homemade hummus - but for some reason, it took me a long time to get around to it.  I was encouraged by the fact that Rebecca tried store-bought hummus (the Central Market spicy red pepper stuff is very good) a few months back and liked it.

So without further ado, here was my first attempt:

Hardware:
Kitchen-Aid 16 cup food processor, standard blade attachment
flexible silicone spatula (for scraping the sides of the mixing bowl)

Software:
2 cans chickpeas, drained
10 cloves garlic, peeled
juice of 2 lemons (about 1/4 cup)
2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup tahini
3 tablespoons olive oil
(optional) 2 diced sun-dried tomatoes

Place the drained chickpeas, garlic and salt in the workbowl of your food processor and spin on high for 15-20 seconds.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the lemon juice and tahini.  Spin an additional 15-20 seconds.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then while running the processor, drizzle in the olive oil (and add any additional garnishes you want mixed in.)

Serve immediately or chill in a covered container and serve cold.  Goes well with pita chips or whole-grain crackers.

You can use homemade cooked chickpeas (a pressure cooker lets you make a batch in about an hour) which will give you slightly better flavors, but honestly with 10 cloves of garlic that's the dominant flavor anyway.  A reasonable alternative could use less garlic and garnish with something like olive tapenade, capers or diced roasted peppers, all of which would be delicious as well.

One word of warning - although this is very healthy (and vegan!) food, it is VERY calorie dense.  The above recipe makes 10-12 servings of about 250 calories each, so this is more a meal than it is an appetizer.

Anasazi Beans and Rice

Anasazi beans are large, red-and-white speckled beans that look sort of like a cross between a pinto bean and a kidney bean.  They were cultivated by Native American civilizations in the American Southwest over 2,000 years ago.  They are also delicious!

One of the interesting thing about the anasazi bean is that it has less starch per serving than pinto beans, but is also faster-cooking.  About the only drawback is that they are somewhat difficult to find; my local HEB carries them, but only infrequently.

I had been eyeing them on the shelf for a long time, and finally decided a month ago to buy a bag and do something with them - this recipe, inspired by the basic 'cooked white beans' recipe in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, was what I  came up with.

Hardware
1 Large Stock Pot or Dutch Oven
Colander (for rinsing beans)
1 large saucepan

Software (for the beans)
1 lb dried Anasazi beans
1 medium onion
12 oz smoked bacon
1 (14.5oz can) tomatoes and green chiles
1 bay leaf
2 tsp chili powder
1 pinch red pepper flake or cayenne pepper (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Software (for the rice)
2 cups white rice (I prefer Texmati)
2 tablespoons butter
heavy pinch salt
4 cups water

Assembly:
Check over the beans on a tray or counter for rock.  Rinse the beans and soak overnight in cold water. 

Chop the onion and bacon and set aside.  Drain the beans.  Cook the bacon in the large pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat until cooked thoroughly.  Remove the bacon (using a slotted spoon) and add the onion and a pinch of salt to the pan.  Cook the onion in the bacon fat until translucent; return the bacon to the pan, and add the beans, along with 6 cups water, the (drained) can of tomatoes, and the chili powder and bay leaf.  Bring the mixture to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to a simmer.  Cook for approximately 90 minutes (check the beans for doneness at this point)

For the rice, heat the butter in the saucepan over high heat.  Once melted, add the rice and a pinch of salt.  Saute the rice until toasted, then add 4 cups water and bring to a boil.  cover and reduce heat to simmer; simmer for 20 minutes, then turn off the heat and allow to rest for 10 more minutes.

Serve the beans over the rice - keep in mind that dried beans can take a LOT of salt.