Spread 'Em

In light of easy and fast food that just so happens to be healthy and delicious, I'm going to write about three of my favorite spreads that can go on anything. Except chocolate cake.

Hummus, pesto, and tahina.

Hummus and tahina both start with, well, tahina which is ground sesame seed paste. This paper tickled me; just the idea that anyone literally published a paper analyzing tahina is hilarious. Bottom line is that tahina has a ton of niacin and some B vitamins and proteins. Also, it has some vital minerals. And I love it because it tastes good.

Let's start with tahina. You can buy ready-to-eat tahina in a can in the store, but why bother? It's not as good. To make it at home, get plain tahina, some garlic, and lemons. Mix the tahina after you open the can/jar because it'll settle like natural peanut butter. Scoop ~3-4 spoonfuls of tahina into a bowl. Crush one clove of raw garlic into it. Dump the juice of half a lemon in there, followed by ~2 pinches of salt. Mix it up. It should resemble mortar. Add a little water and mix well. Taste it.

If it tastes flat: Add more lemon or salt. If it's too tangy, add salt. If it's too salty, add lemon. Salt and acid buffer each other. If all else fails, add more tahina.

If it's too watery: Add more tahina.

If it's too thick: Add more water or lemon juice if it needs it.

I say start small because amounts vary and it's the kind of thing that benefits from you having a feel for how to make it versus blindly following a recipe. Also, you inevitably end up having to add more of one thing or another so it kind of grows. :) The end consistency should be in between a dip and a creamy salad dressing, depending on what you want to use it for. Thicker for crudites, thinner for salad dressing or if its final destination is to dress falafel.

Which brings us to hummus!

Start with a can of chickpeas, drained with liquid reserved in a cup. Throw 2-3 garlic cloves in a food processor and process until finely chopped. Then I scrape down the sides and re-process. That gets them fine enough, usually. It's up to you; if you like killer garlic sneak attacks, don't process as much. :) Then dump in the can of chickpeas and maybe 1/4 of the liquid. Process. If it's stuck, add a little more liquid. Then glop in ~2 heaping spoonfuls of unprepared tahina. Add the juice of one lemon, and I like to add a little olive oil. Throw in some salt. Process. Taste.

If it's stuck in the food processor: Add more liquid. Taste it first, though. If it's flat, add more lemon juice and then some of the chickpea water.

If it's flat: Add more lemon or more salt. Same rules apply here as above.

If you want a more creamy consistency: Add more tahina or olive oil and process some more.

Again, you can adjust quantity as much as you want. You can make it just for you or for a crowd. it is probably the cheapest healthiest party dip under the sun. But you can totally dress it up. Hummus is typically served with powdered sumac, not the poison variety, sprinkled on top. I like to drizzle it with some good olive oil, sprinkle sumac over top, and put really good (not too salty) pitted kalamata olives in a ring on top. It's good in pita quarters with Mediterranean pickle slices and really good with the crudites, especially carrot sticks.

Let's move slightly west, and deal with pesto. Pesto is garlic, olive oil, basil, and nuts, cheese being optional. Preferred, but optional. The nuts are typically pine nuts, but I grew up on pesto with walnuts because walnuts were infinitely cheaper. Both are good. The basil usually came out of my mom or grandma's gardens, and when it came out of my grandma's garden, it was always somehow... basil-lier. I think it was because she watered it less. We always got super-hot chilis or spicy radishes or tomatoey tomatoes when there was less rain, so I'd guess it extends to herbs, too...?

But I digress.

So, pesto. In the food processor, throw in 1 or 2 cloves of raw garlic depending upon how much basil you have and process till chopped, same as for hummus. Throw in the washed and dried leaves of your basil, some (start with a 1/4 cup?) of the nuts, a little romano or parmesan if you want cheese, a little salt (less if you're adding cheese) and pepper, and a glug of olive oil. Process. Scrape down the sides, process a little more, and taste it. (I don't like a homogeneous paste in this case, so the nuts in little chunks... very desireable. I also don't make it swimming in oil.) But this won't have a tanginess, like the hummus and tahina did.

I've found that it tastes very green initially. Give it a few minutes to just sit. I don't know why this works, but it does. Maybe the flavors need a little while to mix? But if after a few minutes it tastes flat, add either salt or cheese, but not too much. Another pesto caveat is adding too much nuts. Then all you taste are nuts. I'm a basil fiend, so I'm always very careful about the nuts and don't add too much. I've found that pine nuts do have a certain pineyness that adds to the basil's flavor, but it's very subtle. Walnuts work just fine. This traditional pesto can go on pasta (of course), or you can make carrot noodles with a vegetable peeler and microwave them in a covered vessel until they're juuuust soft enough and toss with pesto, or you can make a sandwich with it (tomato and mozzarella or a veggie burger) or put it on cooked chicken, or eat it plain. Pesto rocks cut into mashed potatoes.

You can also make pesto out of whatever fresh herbs/greens you want. Arugula and parsley with a little tarragon... cilantro, garlic, and jalapenos (actually, without nuts, this tastes great on hummus which always benefits from the right hot condiments, and it's amazing in scrambled eggs/omelettes... and it turns them pale green! Green eggs, anyone?)

Bottom line is these spreads work on anything. And they're really flavorful. Be forewarned that you'll probably reek of garlic, so either (a) get your significant other to eat some too so neither of you will notice, or (b) avoid it pre-date. Happy spreading... ;)