Recipe: Hummus with Pine Nuts and Basil

I’ve been thinking for a while that I would love to expand my blog to include more things. Fashion will doubtless always be in the forefront, but I also want to share life in general: recipes, DIY projects, restaurants to visit, places to go, wishlists… etc. So what better way to jump in than with a recipe for the most amazing hummus I’ve ever had? (*ahem* might be tooting my own horn a little bit. Haha!)

This recipe was adapted from a basic hummus recipe I found on the internet forever ago, and tweaked to my own personal tastes, with stuff thrown in because it sounded good. So! Here we go.

Ingredients:

• 2 – 16oz Cans Garbanzo beans (Chickpeas)
• 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 4 Tablespoons Tahini (or to taste)
• 1/4 cup Pine Nuts
• 1 tsp salt
• 1-2 cloves Garlic (to taste), or 1-2 tsp garlic powder.
• Juce of 3/4 Lime, or 2-3 tbsp lime juice
• 8-9 sprigs fresh basil, or 2 tbsp dried (use fresh, it’s prettier)
• Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Method:

1. Drain the garbanzo beans, preserving a little over 1/2 cup of the juice. Place beans and juice in a bowl or blender with salt, Tahini (found in most health-food sections with natural peanut butters), olive oil, and the juice of 3/4 the lime. While blending, save 1 slice of lime to garnish, and eat the other pieces (you know. If you’re pregnant, it’s amazing. But if not… well… I don’t know). Note: Some people (my mom) find that the Tahini gives the hummus a bitter taste, and prefer less. However, the 4tbsp here, in my opinion, are totally necessary and not bitter at all. 
2. Blend until you reach a very smooth consistency (I have found that immersion blenders work WAY better for this than stand blenders do. But that’s just me).
3. Add the garlic and pine nuts, and blend until they are well mixed in. Some of your pine nuts might not blend all the way, but that’s fine. Note: I started with one clove of garlic, but moved up to two. If you’re not sure how to get the papery outsides off easily, cut off both ends, then crush under the flat side of a knife blade. Pull right off!
   Your hummus should now look something like this:
4. Add the basil, and blend on low until basil is just chopped into the hummus (not fully blended, unless you don’t care about it looking pretty with green flecks of basil in it.)
5. Spoon into a bowl, decorate with a lime slice and some basil, and add the parmesan cheese if you so desire. I decided not to, because it wasn’t pretty enough.
6. Let sit for thirty minutes to allow flavors to blend. Or, if you’re a pig like me, gobble it up as soon as you can get your grubby fingers on a pita chip.
7. Enjoy!

Napkin: World Market | Dishes: Pier 1

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