Yes, Hummus! Don’t ya just love it? Its a spread made with garbanzo beans processed with sesame seed paste (Tahini), lemon juice, cumin, garlic, salt a little olive oil and water. You can eat it with just a pita warmed and toasted. Or how about those deliciously healthy Terra Chips made of different root vegetables? But it doesn’t stop there. How about hummus spread in a pita pocket, then fill the pita with a variety of vegetables, cooked or raw? Add some chicken or turkey strips, or some grilled strips of portabello mushrooms. Instead of in a pita pocket, use flatbread. Use it as a healthy sandwich spread instead of mayo and/or ketchup. So how does one make this stuff. Well, here’s how I do it.

Ingredients:

• 1 15 ounce can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained and rinsed - This food is low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Dietary Fiber, Protein and Copper, and a very good source of Folate and Manganese.
• 2 cloves garlic – Lowers triglycerides, risks of cancer, heart disease and stroke
• 1/4 cup sesame paste (Tahini) – This food is very low in Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Thiamin, Phosphorus, Copper and Manganese.
• 2 tsps cumin - It is a good source of Dietary Fiber, Thiamin, Phosphorus, Potassium and Copper, and a very good source of Calcium, Iron, Magnesium and Manganese.
• Juice from half a lemon - It is also a good source of Folate and Potassium, and a very good source of Vitamin C which helps prevent cancer and heart disease.
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup olive oil – low in Cholesterol and Sodium, helps lower risks of cancers and heart disease

Procedure:

Put the garlic in a food processor and process until finely minced. Add the garbanzo beans, sesame paste, cumin, lemon juice, water and salt. Turn the food processor on and while running add the olive oil.

How to serve:

What we did in our restaurant was put an 8 ounce portion of hummus in a glass cup, drizzle a little olive oil on it and dust it with some smoked paprika. It looked pretty and tasted great. We served it with two grilled pitas cut into eight pieces each, or with Terra Chips or a combination of the two. We would also create sandwich specials that were usually vegetarian in nature. Some were grilled vegetable sandwiches, portobello mushroom sandwiches, or a combination, usually in a toasted pita pocket that was coated with some of the hummus. Of course, if customers wanted they could add grilled chicken strips, shrimp or turkey to these sandwiches. And since hummus is a Middle Eastern thing, serving a sandwich made with it with a side of a cold couscous salad with golden raisins, toasted pine nuts, cilantro, coriander, currants, dried apricots was incredible good and authentic! Enjoy!

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Just added another chapter in the video series “Bringing the Bistro Home”. Burgundy Beef was one of the all-time best selling dishes at Burgundy Bistro. I’ve uploaded it to my youtube channel, but in order to view it you will have to purchase a subscription to the video series “Bringing the Bistro Home”. You can check out the Horseradish Encrusted Salmon and Southwest Salmon videos as they are parts 1 and 2 in the series. I will also be adding Beef Braised in Beer and Osso Bucco very soon.

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