Red Pepper Hummus ♥

Red Pepper Hummus, another easy vegan appetizer ♥ A Veggie Venture
graphic button small size size 10 Today's easy appetizer recipe: A pretty chickpea and roasted red pepper hummus. Such pretty color! Low Carb. Weight Watchers Friendly. Not just vegan, Vegan Done Real. Naturally Gluten Free. graphic button small size size 10

After ten days and ten inches of rain and record flooding, on Friday the sun finally made a much-doubted welcome re-appearance here in Missouri. All of a sudden, our kitchen was sunlit again! All of a sudden, twas summer!

... which got me to digging around in the pantry for "summer food," the stuff that's so easy it almost makes itself, the stuff that as easily fuels a quick snack as somehow contributes to supper. Say hello to my latest hummus, this one a pretty pale hue of red, color-wise, as welcome as sunshine compared to my otherwise wonderful signature hummus, the Crazy-Smooth Crazy-Good Hummus and even the stuff-there's-no-getting-enough-of, the Roasted Eggplant “Hummus" (Eggplant & Chickpea Dip & Spread).

All three versions of hummus are extra-smooth thanks in part to the way I cook chickpeas especially for hummus, How to Cook Dried Chickpeas Especially for Hummus aka "Jerusalem Chickpeas". But this last time I made Red Pepper Hummus? No home-cooked chickpeas were ready to go so I pulled out a can of chickpeas and there was hummus in a few minutes, slightly rougher in texture but equally habit-forming.

So is cooking your own chickpeas recommended? Yes. But can you get away with canned chickpeas. Yes, thank our lucky stars sunshine.

This recipe is so quick and easy that I'm adding it to a growing collection of easy summer recipes published all summer long since 2009 at Kitchen Parade, my food column. With a free Kitchen Parade e-mail subscription, you'll never miss a one!

RECIPE for RED PEPPER HUMMUS

Hands-on time: 10 minutes
Time to table: 10 minutes
Makes 1-1/2 cups

1 small clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (yielding about 271g of actual chickpeas)
1 roasted red pepper from a jar (about 100g)
Liquid brine from roasted pepper jar, as needed

In a food processor, process the garlic and salt several times until the garlic is very fine. Add the lemon juice, chickpeas and red pepper and process for two to three minutes until very smooth. Slowly pour in a spoonful of liquid brine, then more as needed to reach the texture you most like.

MAKE-AHEAD Make this up to two or three days ahead of time, use up within a week.

ALANNA'S TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES
Processing the garlic and salt on their own is one of my tricks for making hummus. Even in a large food processor, there's enough salt and it flies around so much that it'll grab the garlic and fly them around together. Voila! Minced garlic!
Because there's so little oil in this hummus, just the natural fats in the chickpeas themselves, after sitting out for awhile (on a buffet or party table, say), this hummus can develop a sort of "skin" on the surface that's exposed to air. To prevent this entirely, add about 2 tablespoons oil to the hummus when mixing it. Or do what I do, serve it in small amounts to be consumed on the spot!
I'm happy with the jars of roasted peppers from Trader Joe's. Anyone else have a recommendation?



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A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the
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Alanna Kellogg
Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

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