I’ve been reading a lot about the Sabra Hummus recall. I love hummus, and really loved their Greek olive hummus (I’m a sucker for Kalamata olives! The first time I really had homemade hummus, I was living in a Greek mountain village on the island of Corfu and an English girl, Nikki, who worked on the yachts with my sister, Sue, came over with a bowl of freshly made hummus.
“I made too much,” she said (I later found out that is very easy to do). “And I thought you’d might like it.” Some neighbors are great, aren’t they?
Maybe it was the tangy garlic, or the lemons, fresh from the trees outside her house, but wham, what a flavor that little khaki-colored dip packed. Wow, hummus was awesome!
And it still is- my daughter is fond of hummus and pita bread as well, which I introduced her to early in life. I started buying it at the grocery store. But then one day I actually stopped and read the ingredients on the side of the store-bought package- it’s an awfully long list for the item that Nikki had whipped up using chickpeas, garlic, tahini, olive oil & lemon juice. Who the heck needs yellow dye #5? Hummus is pretty au natural!
My husband, the chef, came up with a fantastic recipe. Tweak it if you like, to make hummus at home. Do it with the kids after school. Kids need to learn how to cook, and this makes a great icebreaker into the cooking world- fast and easy. Oh yes, use tinned chick peas- way easier than the soak overnight and boil method! Check out his recipe for fresh hummus, here.
I still think of Nikki fondly every time I make hummus and wonder if she delivered her bit of kindness everywhere she went!