Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Love is Spelled T-A-H-I-N-I

Look at what I woke up to this morning:

No, our back neighbor's house is not on fire. Look again:

That's right. Snow. And a lot of it, too. Heavy, wet snow that was no fun to shovel (although I got to chat with an across-the-street neighbor for the first time, so it wasn't so bad). But to have this soggy snow hit us barely two days after I wore flip flops outside for the first time in 2010 was a little disheartening.

As you might imagine, Lio didn't exactly feel thrilled upon discovering that his stomping ground was covered in white stuff again. At least he looked funny -- er, cute in the new too-large coat that I bought for a sweet fifty cents at Wal-Mart.

Still, I won't complain about the weather too much. Snow now means fewer fires this summer. Instead of an unseasonably early thaw, I'd rather have a long, luscious spring followed by a temperate summer in which the sun is not obscured by smoke. (Yes, that does happen. A few years ago, Best Fiance Ever and I were photographing our friends' outdoor wedding, and the smoke did not a picturesque landscape make. Good thing the bride and groom are already more beautiful than any view might make them!)

To brighten my spirits, I made hummus. Usually I opt out of adding tahini, but due to the generous sample love of Love Street Living Foods I've acquired some raw tahini. At first I didn't really like it any more than the tahini I bought at the store (which, I should add, I hated). But today at lunch, something changed. I began to like the raw tahini. Quite a bit, in fact.

My conversion to tahini fangirl status started slowly. I dipped a few veggies and crackers in the raw tahini, but couldn't say that the taste appealed to me. Still, I'm a stubborn food blogger, so I made a lightly sweetened, tahini-drizzled, nooch-sprinkled pizza inspired by Heather's tahini+bacon+honey quesadilla, with a cucumber and a mushroom slathered in fat free cream cheese on the side. With each bite of pizza, my taste buds danced more and more wildly. "Tahini! Tahini!" they screamed. "Where have you been all our lives?"

Well . . . maybe it didn't happen quite like that. Sentient taste buds aside, however, by the time I finished lunch this afternoon, I liked tahini. Since I was already planning to whip up some hummus today, I decided to throw some tahini into the mix.

That's when it happened. In the midst of hummus creation, tahini like blossomed into tahini love. Seriously, raw tahini -- where have you been all my life? The tahini-ed batch of hummus was more fluffy and creamy than any hummus I've ever made before. It was so amazing, in fact, that I must share with you my very unscientific hummus-making process.

Life-Changing Love Hummus

1 15 oz. can garbonzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 plop raw tahini (adjust to taste)
1 heaping spoonful garlic, minced
a few big squirts of lemon juice
2 tiny squirts of sriracha hot sauce
water as needed

Toss everything into a blender/food processer. Blend until desired consistency is reached, adding water to thin as needed. Taste. Fall in love. Remove hummus to a jar and try not to fondle it too much.


Mmm. I am so excited for dinner tonight. Can you guess what will be on my plate?

Do you like tahini? What's your favorite tahini recipe? Please share, because I want to eat more tahini!

2 comments:

  1. I've never really tried tahini before...but I don't think I'll like it, because I don't like hummus with tahini...ack! Haha are you having tahini again for dinner? Have you tried making a brownie with tahini before?

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  2. I DID have tahini in my dinner! I had a baked sweet potato (topped with salsa and nooch) and a big mess o' stir-fry, mixed with a big plop (or a couple of plops...) of the hummus. YUM. After my raw tahini is gone, it'll be interesting to go back and try regular tahini and see what I think. My prediction is that raw is going to win my affections.

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