14 thoughts on “Ready for the Weekend”

  1. Oddly enough, I see hummus in your future:

    1/3 c. sesame tahini
    2 (15 oz.) cans garbanzo beans (chick peas), well drained
    1/4 c. lemon juice
    5 cloves minced garlic
    5 drops Tabasco sauce
    1/4 c. water
    1/2 tsp. cumin

    Combine all ingredients and blend until the desired consistency; an electric mixer works well. Serve as a dip or is really good with wedges of pita bread.

    Yeah. I lifted the recipe from Cooks.com… but it looks like where you are heading. Don’t forget the pita chips.

  6. Fresh garlic has to be chopped finely. If you just throw it into the food processor with the other ingredients you get random garlic chunks and the garlic taste doesn’t disperse. Maybe if you ground the garlic in the machine as a first step it would work better. Or if you used an old-fashioned blender, which grinds more finely and IME makes the best hummus. But both of these alternatives add a lot of work to the hummus process. Garlic powder, if it’s finely ground and reasonably fresh, works OK and saves time and effort.

  7. I use a garlic press. Years ago I bought one from Taiwan, which failed within a year or so. I then bought an industrial strength garlic press from Italy, which has been good for 15-20 years. Much better design. Currently I imagine only garlic presses from China are available. It would take less than a minute to crush the 5-10 cloves of garlic used in hummus.

  9. As I bought one garlic press that failed, I can concur with your comment about problematic results with garlic presses. What garlic presses I see for sale online appear to be too damned complicated in their design- at least compared to the one I have. What I have used for upwards of 20 years is the Brevetatto garlic press. The design is simple, yet elegant, resulting in a very durable object. It is easy to clean. Finding it for sale online might take some time, and might be deemed not worth the effort.

  11. I usually just mash the garlic with the side of my knife. Adding a bit of salt lets the grinding go faster and you get a somewhat smoother paste.

    Have you tried other beans? I’ve found that both black beans and Great Northern make for interesting variations. Keep the rest of the recipe the same, though.

  12. I’ve tried favas, kidneys, black beans and maybe others I don’t remember. 1:1 favas/garbanzos was the best alternative mix to my taste. 100% fava was a bit too strong in taste. Maybe 1:2 would be better. YMMV

  14. The best way I’ve found to puree garlic is to use a mortar and pestle with a little bit of salt.

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