-N- – Page 691 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

Tahini, Hummus, and Hot Green Pepper Sauce

There is nothing like an extended amount of work in the kitchen, preparing food from scratch and cleaning up, to make you appreciate modern conveniences (food processors and dishwashers), as well as a sense of pride in feeding one’s family.

I’ve spent the last couple of hours making a number of items from scratch. Everything I made required making pastes out of foodstuffs. For the hummus, I slow-cooked dried chickpeas (garbanzos). These were then ground up in the food processor with garlic, lemon, tahini, olive oil, and a pinch of salt. The tahini meant a light toasting of 4 c. white sesame seeds, and then grinding them into a paste with olive oil – once more in the food processor. Finally, hot green pepper sauce made – yet again! – in the food processor, and combined with cilantro (coriander), garlic, cumin and olive oil. If I had to grind all these things into a paste, using a mortar and pestle, I would be still going at it, and have the muscles of a wrestler!

Tahini
4 c. white sesame seeds, lightly toasted
2/3 c. olive oil
pinch salt (optional)

Lightly toast the seeds. This may be done in an oven, set at 350 F, or over a medium high heat, in a pan, on the stove top; I did the latter. Be very careful not to over-toast, as there will be a bitter taste in the final product. Stir frequently when doing it on the stove-top or in the oven, and toast until seeds are a light ivory color.

Place seeds in food processor, and drizzle in olive oil, grind until a paste forms.

Add a pinch of salt if desired.

Hummus
1 lb. dried chickpeas / garbanzo beans
7-9 c. water
5-7 cloves garlic
3-5 T. lemon juice
2-4 T. parsley
1/4 c. tahini sauce
pinch salt

In slow cooker, place all the beans, and cover with the 7-9 c. water. Cook on high for 4 hours, or on low for 8. Remove beans, rinse several times in cool water, agitating to remove the outer skins. Let skins rise to surface of water, and skim off – they look like a flotilla of jellyfish! Drain well.

In food processor, add drained beans, and all the other ingredients; grind until a smooth paste forms.

Hummus can be seasoned with roasted garlic, and toasted pine nuts may be added as well.

Jalapenos & Serranos — Jalapenos (top row) and Serranos (bottom row)

Hot Green Pepper Sauce

This sauce is called zhuk, and is a condiment found in many variations, and with various names, throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and into the Asian subcontinent. You can make it as hot or cool as you want. Chimichurri sauce is similar, but has vinegar and parsley in addition to the cilantro / coriander. You can use whatever hot green peppers you have on hand, and in whatever combination you want. This created a mild sauce with a bit of bite. To make a hotter sauce, you can leave seeds and ribs in the mix.

2 bunches fresh cilantro (coriander)
5-7 garlic cloves, peeled
2 tsp. cumin
2 serrano chili peppers
5 jalapeno chili peppers
Olive oil

Chop cilantro. I included stems and leaves. Seed and de-rib hot peppers (be sure to take care not to rub your eyes, wear gloves, and remove seeds and ribs under water). Chop peppers.

Place all ingredients into food processor, grind until it is a liquid in appearance, adding olive oil as necessary. The cilantro and peppers are visible as tiny bits suspended in the oil.

Dinner will be pita slices and vegetables to dip in the hummus. I may thin some tahini into a dressing or as a dip; the zhuk will be set to the side as a hot condiment as a complementary taste.

Here, chick, chick, chick!

I’m in a mood for simple food, made from scratch, that is satisfying, will last a few days, and is easy to do. Specifically, hummus! There are some really great store brands available, but now and again, just getting in touch with the process of making it adds to the experience.

Where I live, we are fortunate to have access to some stores with a wide variety of foods and culinary focal points, such as Mexican, Middle Eastern, and Asian. We also have local farmers’ markets and organic food delivery services, whether through co-ops or Whole Foods. And, of course, we have chain stores, such as Vons, or Trader Joe’s.

As we are heading out to different neighborhoods nearby and in the Valley (as in San Fernando, as in Valley Girl Land) for beer-making supplies, we will also pick up some goodies to make homemade hummus. And, while wandering around the net in search of hummus recipes, I came across this totally delightful video about chick peas – more well-known locally as garbanzo beans.

Water, Water Everywhere

With a loud, resounding whooosh! our water heater exploded last night. The ceiling in the garage was the main target of spouting water, and the floors and walls and all enjoyed a good bath. Plans to replace it this morning had been made earlier this week . . . but I have dirty dishes, dirty clothes, and now, dirty toilets. Ugh! Luckily, there is a 500 gallon spa in the back yard to provide potty water for flushing the more noxious matter, and even a grocery store for bottled water if we run out of what we have. Modern conveniences are sorely underrated until you need to use them. Sewage systems and toilets and running water are not modern. According to various web sources . . .

King Minos of Crete had a water closet in 2800 BCE
Toilets were discovered in China dating to 200 BCE
Skara Brae, in Scotland, during 3100 BCE had a water movement system using a nearby river to remove waste from their domiciles
The Romans had aqueducts to bring water into cities, public baths, and other amenities
Queen Elizabeth I had a flush toilet in 1596
Chamber pots were used in the middle ages and emptied into the street below
Open sewers still run through many cities in the modern world

So, while I wait for Uncle Ed to arrive, and wander out to the spa for a bucket or two of water, I will leave you the video below to enjoy.

Nothing Much

Well, the water heater is dying, so it is getting replaced on Saturday by Josh and his uncle. Fun stuff, eh? Meanwhile, a hose is running from the drain pan to the garden to keep the garage from getting soaked. It’s all because of an ever-increasing leak. At least we still have hot water.

But that is boring news. I’ve been doing a bit of knitting, finishing up a shawl, starting a new one, with sock yarn and a lot of stitches. Ugh, not sure if that is what I want.

And I have also been enjoying some flowers, which never fail to cheer me up!

Smokin! – ii

Yesterday’s dinner was a raging success! We smoked the ribs for about 8 hours. About half way in, the coals were burnt down, and needed replenishing. More hickory chips were added at this point, and the water pan refilled. We took this time to move the upper rack of ribs to the lower position, and the lower to the upper. Mopping continued. While continuing to smoke, biscuits and honey butter were made, the salad created and a complementary vinaigrette. The beans continued to cook in a very slow oven until it came time to up the heat for the biscuits.

Baked Beans
1 lb. small white beans or navy beans
2/3 c. maple syrup, dark amber
1 onion, diced fine
6 strips thick cut bacon, chopped into 1 inch pieces
2 T. brown sugar
1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1/4 c. ketchup
pinch salt
water

Soak beans overnight. Rinse, pick through. Put into ovenproof Dutch oven with lid, Add all the rest of the ingredients, and enough water to cover the beans by about an inch. Mix it all together. Place in oven, bake at 350 for about 4 hours. Check periodically to ensure adequate liquid in pot to prevent burning. Drop temperature to 300 to continue cooking, or to keep warm until dinner time (if you don’t need the oven for something else!). Beans should be firm, but tender. You can also cook them ahead of time, and warm them up on the stove top.

Honey Butter

1/2 lb. sweet butter
1/4 c. honey
pinch sweet cinnamon
1/4 t. vanilla

Let butter come to room temperature. Beat in other ingredients until well blended. Butter will be rather soft. Return to refrigerator to chill. Serve on biscuits, or use on toast, or whatever needs it.

Subtle use of the cinnamon and vanilla will enhance the delicacy of the honey – I used orange blossom from a local farmer – too much will overwhelm the honey.

Buttermilk Biscuits

3 c. flour (I used King Arthur unbleached white)
1/2 lb (2 sticks) cold, sweet butter
2 T. baking powder
2 T. sugar
1 1/2 c. buttermilk
pinch salt
gourmet sea salt (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 F. Line large cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Combine pinch salt, sugar, powder and flour together in a large bowl. Cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Pour in buttermilk, stir together briefly with fork until liquid incorporated. Turn out onto floured board and knead 10 times until smooth. Roll out to about 1/2-3/4 inch in height. Cut biscuits with 2-3″ cutter, or use a tumbler dipped in flour. Be efficient in cutting your biscuits to get the most use out of dough. Reshape leftover dough into ball, roll out again, and cut more biscuits. Repeat as necessary.

Place biscuits on cookie sheet. Brush milk or cream onto tops. If you want, sprinkle gourmet sea salt on top of biscuits – this is a nice counterpoint in taste to the honey butter.

Bake 12-15 minutes; cool on wire rack, or place in towel-lined bowl and bring to table for serving. Yield – 12-15 biscuits, depending on thickness of rolled dough.

Altogether, it took a couple of days to put this meal together, but the actual labor was not a lot.

Beans are easiest to soak overnight, but you can also do a quick soak method by cooking them about an hour before baking them. I cooked them Friday night for a few hours, and then finished them off on Saturday.

Our baby back ribs were frozen, so we took them out of the freezer, still wrapped, to defrost, and on the morning before smoking began, we put the rub on them. That was on Friday morning for the Saturday morning smoking. We started smoking around 9, and ended at 5 that evening.

Biscuits and honey butter took very little time. I made the honey butter a few hours before dinner so it could chill and become a bit more solid before dinner. The biscuits I started about an hour before serving, as prep time needed to be considered. I use a pastry cutter for the cutting, or sometimes just my fingers, rubbing the chilly butter into the flour.

We had leftovers – some biscuits, honey butter, some beans, and some ribs. More than enough for us four, but if you have voracious eaters, consider upping the amounts. Home brew (from another brew day) was enjoyed before, during, and after dinner.

Oh, forgot to add – we had root beer floats for dessert (but I would have preferred a black cow myself!).