Basic Hummus

About 6 servings

1 15 oz can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

Juice of 2 lemons

1-2 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup olive oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

½ cup tahini, optional

½ tsp cayenne, optional

Beyond the basic hummus recipe, the flavor options are endless and these are a few of my current favorites:

• Add ½ cup chopped cilantro leaves, juice and zest of an extra lemon, along with ¼ cup sliced pickled jalapenos
• Instead of the 1-2 cloves of raw garlic, add an entire head of roasted garlic. To roast garlic, trim ¼ inch off of the top of the bulb, drizzle the tops with a little olive oil and salt, and roast in a small pan covered with aluminum foil. Roast at 350 for 45-60 minutes until soft and golden. Squeeze the bulbs out and discard the skins. Roasted garlic is quite useful so it’s nice to roast several heads at once and then save them for use in future recipes.
• Add ½ cup pitted Kalamata olives
• Add ½ cup of roasted red peppers
• Add ½ cup of roasted beets or carrots

In a food processor, pulse the garlic until it is minced. Add the lemon juice, olive oil, tahini (if using), along with your optional ingredients, and pulse until pureed. Add the garbanzo beans and the salt & pepper (and cayenne if using), and process until pureed. The important thing is to process the hummus for quite a while to get it to a lovely smooth consistency. Having said that, sometimes I will coarsely chop my flavor additions and then stir them in after I’ve made the hummus itself, for the sake of having a nice interesting texture. Your preference.

Serve with crudites and/or an assortment of breads or crackers.