Red Pepper Hummus - Pink Saturday

Sunrise on the Mediterranean Sea





From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This is football season. I live in a sports crazed town where season passes are so difficult to come by that we've seen them passed from one generation to the next in wills. Needless to say, there's lots of tailgating here. As it happens, I'm not a rabid sports fan so I like to keep things as simple as I can. This red pepper hummus is about as simple as it gets. When served with pita chips and raw vegetables, it's great for a party that has a Mediterranean theme. I had hoped my hummus would have a lovely glow for Pink Saturday. Unfortunately, a darker than usual tahini produced a hummus colored more orange than pink. Panic, of course, set in. Fortunately, I was able to find a photo of a Mediterranean sunrise that worked with both the pink and the Mediterranean theme. I hope you'll try the hummus. The recipe defines simplicity and can be made in minutes. The roasted peppers give the hummus a unique flavor that sets it apart from most others. This recipe appeared more than a decade ago in Bon Appetit magazine. Enjoy!

Red Pepper Hummus...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans (chick-peas), drained
1/3 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped drained roasted red peppers from jar

Directions:
With processor running, drop garlic through feed tube and mince. Scrape down sides of work bowl. Add chick-peas, tahini and lemon juice; process until mixture is smooth. Add roasted peppers; process until peppers are finely chopped. Season with salt and pepper. I used 1-1/2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Transfer hummus to small bowl. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before serving.)Yield: 2 cups.


Beverly, who hosts Pink Saturday, has asked us to recommend one other contributor whose blog we think others might enjoy. I've selected Sam at My Carolina Kitchen.

They post is being linked to Pink Saturday, sponsored by Beverly at How Sweet the Sound.

Feta and Cucumber Dip

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Contact Noah. We really need the ark. We've had a day of heavy rain and what was to be a barbecue is now a buffet. We Oregonians are a hearty lot and normally a little rain doesn't phase us. I grill in January for heavens sake. However, when it rains this furiously it's impossible to keep the fire going and cooks, looking even briefly toward the heavens, have been known to drown. Factor in accidents caused by flatlanders attempting navigation of a muddy hillside and you have the makings of a disaster. The good news is that the guests and everything on the menu can be moved indoors. Better still is the knowledge that the drought that turned our valley brown is over. I have three hors d' oeuvres in the kitchen that you might enjoy. They're fast and easy and require no last minute fussing. We'll get to them all this week, but we'll concentrate on the feta cucumber dip today. You all know that an hors d' oeuvre is a small hand-held item that's served before and separate from a meal. An appetizer, which could actually be the same food, is the starting point, the first course, of a meal and is served at the table. The real difference between the two is the time at which they're served. While this is a Martha Stewart recipe, its origins are Italian and a recipe similar to this one appeared in The New York Times Cookbook decades ago. Here the cucumbers are grated rather than diced and heavy cream and feta cheese are added to yogurt to make a smooth and tangy dip for pita chips or crudites. Try to get thick Greek yogurt. If it's not available, drain the yogurt through a sieve to extract as much liquid as you can. The cucumbers, too, should be as dry as possible. While the dip can be made early in the day, it becomes watery if allowed to sit over night. Any leftover dip makes a marvelous low-fat salad dressing. Here's the recipe.


Feta and Cucumber Dip...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
4 medium cucumbers, peeled
Coarse salt
2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt (16 ounces), preferably Greek
6 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (1 cup)
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh mint, plus 1 sprig for garnish
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup heavy cream
5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
Freshly ground pepper
Sliced Cucumbers for lining the bowl for lining bowl (optional)
Crudites, for serving

Directions:
1) Halve cucumbers, and scoop out seeds using a melon baller or small spoon. Grate cucumbers using large holes of a box greater. Transfer grated cucumbers to a colander; set over a bowl to drain. Stir in 2 teaspoons salt; let cucumber mixture stand 15 minutes to drain.
2) Rinse cucumbers; shake out excess liquid. Wrap in a clean kitchen towel; squeeze out as much liquid as possible. A potato ricer may also be used to extract liquid.
3) Stir together cucumbers, yogurt, feta, chopped mint, garlic, cream, and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. If desired, transfer dip to a bowl lined with cucumber slices. Garnish dip with mint sprig if desired. Serve with pita chips or crudites. Yield: 3-1/2 cups.