Hummus

"You actually MAKE your own hummus?"  Words once spoken to me, with the response of "Yes, and if everyone knew how easy and inexpensive it is to make yourself, so would they!"  This has become one of those staple, go-to's for me that I no longer look at the recipe and have ventured into some different variations.  Here is the original recipe, courtesy of Emeril Lagasse.  

Ingredients

• 2 cups canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 2 tablespoons tahini paste
• 1 tablespoon garlic
• 1/4 cup olive oil, plus more, for drizzling
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, combine the chickpeas, lemon juice, tahini paste, and garlic. Process until smooth. With the machine running, add 1/4 cup olive oil, a little at a time. Season with salt and pepper.

Here are some tips 'n tricks:

- Mince the garlic before adding to the food processor, otherwise you'll still have large chunks.
- The hummus will likely dry out after a few days, just drizzle some more olive oil on top prior to serving.

- The garlic will intensify the longer it sits, so plan accordingly!

- Use this as a base recipe for other varieties:

• Roasted Red Pepper (one of my faves!) - add 2 jarred roasted red peppers to base, but omit the lemon    juice and reduce the amount of olive oil added

• Roasted Garlic - peel 2-3 cloves of garlic and put into aluminum foil wrap, drizzle with olive oil, seal packet and bake at 325 until garlic is soft, roasted.  

Try it and share your own varieties!