Pumpkin-Chipotle Hummus

I love hummus - despite my own allergy to legumes, I occasionally indulge in various flavors of hummus with roasted red pepper or garlic - but rarely make it at home to avoid making too big a batch that I end up eating it all and make myself sick.  I can't help it - garbanzos are delicious - in everything from chana masala to stews and gravys.  I even named my first cat "Ci-Ci" because I liked the little beans so much.  When Julia from Mariquita recently included a suggestion for pumpkin hummus in a newsletter, and the idea inspired me to do my own version of the recipe. 

Like pestos and pad thai and many other good things, this is the type of recipe that is open to interpretation by the chef.  Feel free to improvise and make your own variation - I already have plans for a gingery-hot 5-spice version, a chai spice version, and might even do a peanutty version with peanut butter in addition to tahini and roasted red peppers (yum, right?).


INGREDIENTS:

• 2-3 pounds peeled and seeded pumpkin cut in 2-3" chunks
• 3/4 c tahini paste (or more to make it more hummus like)
• 1/4 c mellow red/barley miso
• 1 Tb garlic powder or 2-3 TB minced garlic (to taste)
• 3/4 c fresh lemon juice
• 1 whole dried chipotle pepper or your own smoked red jalapenos in oil
• 1/4 c sesame oil
• 2 Tb dried lemon zest or fresh zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp salt or to taste 
• 1/2 Tb cumin
• Optional: sweet paprika, freshly ground black pepper, nutritional yeast

DIRECTIONS:

1. Roast the pumpkin, tossed with a tiny splash of sesame or olive oil to keep it from sticking to your dutch oven.  It's done when it's tender.
2. Soak the dried chipotle in warm water to soften it - unless you have smoked peppers stored in olive oil in the fridge like me (I know, I'm weird).
3. Pulverize the heck out of the pumpkin and the other ingredients - if it doesn't taste hummus-y enough, add more tahini (this also helps if you made it too spicy and are out of pumpkin!).

 I plan to enjoy this with some carrot-flaxseed-sprouted almond crackers that are going in the dehydrator right now.  Come on over if you want to try some!

Stand-by Salsa Combos

SALSA & GUACAMOLE are two of my favorite things to make to dress up a salad or a dish or just for a meal. Bruschetta is one of my other favorite things, but that merits its own post, as does guacamole! Here are a couple my favorite combinations - vary proportions based on your preferences and availability of fresh or local ingredients.

Salsa 1: honeydew melon, pomegranate seeds, cilantro (and a little mint), lime, jalapeno, white onion and toasted pumpkin seeds.

Salsa 2: roasted red pepper (in broiler, peel and remove seeds), fire roasted corn (in broiler), roasted pasilla pepper (same as red pepper) & white onions, pan seared tomatoes, avocado, cilantro, lime, jalapeno

For this one, use a VERY sharp knife to cut the corn off along the rows. Once you get the first 1-3 rows out, it'll be fairly easy to pry out the rest of the kernels.

Salsa 3: persimmon, jicama, parsley, habanero pepper, red onion (soaked in vinegar to soften) and toasted pumpkin seeds

Salsa 4: mango, toasted pumpkin seeds, cilantro, lime and finely minced red onion and jalapeno.