Herb-Brined Pork Loin Recipe

If there’s one thing every home-chef should know how to do, it’s brining.  Brining is similar to marination, but what it does to meat is totally different.  Brining adds moisture and flavor to meat (especially lean meat like pork or turkey), while a marinade flavors the exterior of meat and can soften meat fibers by breaking down connective tissue.  

What is in a brine?  Basically a brine is a combination of salt, sugar, herbs, and water.  Very very simply.

How does brining work?  Well, according to Wikipedia, the excess salt in a brine is infused into the cells of a meat, and via the process of osmosis, the cells then absorb water from the brine.  The salt will also coagulate the proteins of the meat, forming a matrix that traps water molecules during the cooking process.  In addition, the brine is flavored with sugar and herbs, causing the exterior of the meat to form a caramelized crust during cooking.  

What’s next? So now that you know why to brine, what a brine is, and how a brine works, let’s get into some recipe action.  I chose to brine a lean pork loin for this post.  Try to give yourself as much time to brine a piece of protein, up to 12 hours and as little as 1 hour.  But if you only have a half hour, you’ll still see a difference.

Ingredients

• 1 pork loin
• 1 sprig of rosemary
• 1 handful of sage
• 3-4 bay leaves
• 1/4 cup kosher salt (regular salt is fine as well)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar (you can substitute regular granulated sugar if you want, I just find brown sugar has more flavor)
• 1 teaspoon of whole black peppercorns (cracked is fine as well)
• 6 cups of room temperature water
• 1 large freezer storage bag or a container that won’t leak and destroy your fridge

Directions

1. Throw all your ingredients into the bag, seal, and let sit for up to 12 hours, overnight, or for as little as 1 hour.  If you’re brining for more than an hour, throw the brine into the fridge.  If it’s less than an hour, don’t sweat.
2. 1 hour before cooking, remove the brine from the fridge to bring to room temperature.
3. Remove the pork tender loin from the brine, discard brine.
4. With a dry paper towel, pat down the loin so it’s dry.
5. Season all sides with salt and pepper.
6. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
7. Place an oven-proof pan on your stove at high heat.
8. Once the pan is hot, pour in a few tablespoons of oil.
9. After 10-15 seconds, add your tenderloin to the pan.  Watch out, it will sizzle very intensely.  Whatever you do, DON’T MOVE THE TENDERLOIN.  LET IT SIT FOR 4-5 MINUTES.  RESIST THE TEMPTATION!!!
10. After 4-5 minutes, turn the tenderloin on it’s other side, and place the pan in the oven for 20-25 minutes.
11. Remove the pan from the oven, place your loin on a cutting board and let sit for a minimum of 5 minutes.  If you cut immediately, you’ll lose all the moisture you worked so hard to contain.
12. Cut into 1/4 -1/2 inch medallions and serve with Cumin Cauliflower and Israeli Couscous (although in my meal, I made an Indian chickpea recipe that will be coming soon!).
13. Enjoy!

Want a pan sauce to mop up those delicious drippings in the pan?  Here are the Ingredients and Directions

Ingredients

• 1 small pad of butter
• 1 tablespoon of dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon of capers
• salt, pepper, red pepper flakes to season
• 1/4 cup white wine, chicken stock, vegetable stock, or even water if necessary

Directions

1. Add your liquid to the pan while it’s hot
2. Throw in everything else (sans the butter) and let cook for 2-5 minutes, while you whisk.
3. Add the butter at the last minute.
4. Once the butter is melted, and the sauce has thickened, throw it on the cut medallions for a sensational dinner.

Enjoy!

 

 

White Bean Soup with Mustard Greens and Herbs

Sometimes when you come home from work, you just want a light meal.  Sure, you can always go to the Whole Foods salad bar, but what fun is that.  This meal is affordable, easy, quick, and light.  But it still fills your home with a deliciously combined smell of nostalgia and home cooking.

Ingredients

• 1 small handful of tarragon leaves – rinsed chopped
• 1 small handful of rosemary leaves – rinsed and chopped
• 1 small handful of parsley – rinsed and chopped

• 1 small can of white beans (can be cannellini, great northern, or navy beans – all are relatively similar) – rinsed
• 1 box (32 oz) of Vegetable Stock
• 2 carrots – peeled and cut into half inch circles
• 1/2 red onion – peeled and sliced
• 1 to 2 handfulls of mushrooms (porcini, shitake, etc – just no button mushrooms – they suck) – cleaned with a wet paper cloth, destemmed, and cut into quarters

• 1 clove of garlic – chopped
• 1 head of mustard greens (you can substitute any green for this – kale, spinach, etc) – rinsed and chopped
• red pepper flakes 
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Bring your burner on medium to high heat and place a pot on it
2. Add a few tablespoons of olive oil once it’s relatively hot
3. Throw in your onions, garlic, carrots, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.  Sautee for 2-3 minutes or until they are soft.
4. Pour in your vegetable stock and 1 cup of water.
5. Add your mustard greens, herbs, mushrooms, and beans to the pot.  It will look like too many ingredients, but don’t worry, the greens will significantly reduce in size.
6. Let cook for 15 minutes, tasting around minute 10 for seasoning.  You will most likely want to add some salt and pepper to get the flavors right.
7. Serve in a bowl with a nice dollop of olive oil.   I also like to add a few drops of Sriracha sauce to it for additional heat.
8. Enjoy!

Best served by itself or with something equally light:

• Grilled Shrimp Salad
• Poached Salmon

Seared Sea Scallops with Butternut Squash Puree and Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Pureed Butternut Squash with Ricotta Cheese

There are two main types of scallops available to consumers- sea scallops and bay scallops.  Despite their names, the main difference is in size and flavor.  Sea Scallops are larger and sweeter, while Bay Scallops are smaller and more intense in flavor.  When shopping for scallops, there are a few things to consider.  First, make sure to ask whether the scallops are dry-packed or wet-packed.  Dry-packed means they are natural and wet-packed means they have been treated with  sodium tripolyphosphate to absorb moisture prior to the freezing process, thereby getting a better price per unit of weight.  Secondly, make sure the scallops are shiny and moist and don’t smell fishy.  And finally try to purchase fresh scallops during their in-season, which is from November to March.  But frozen scallops are a great option during the other seven months.

This recipe is incredibly easy and really takes advantage of your oven.  Before you start cooking, be sure to preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Ingredients

• 1 Large Butternut Squash, cut in half length-wise
• 3-4 tablespoons of Ricotta Cheese
• 20ish Brussel Sprouts, cut into halves or quarters, depending on your preference
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 3 Sea Scallops per person, rinsed and dried
• Salt and Pepper
• Red pepper flakes

Directions

For the Squash Puree

1. Place your split Butternut Squash in your preheated oven on an oven-safe tray.  Let roast 30 minutes, or until you can pinch the sides and it gives.
2. Take the squash out and let sit for 10 minutes so you don’t burn your hands.
3. Remove the seeds with a spoon and throw away
4. spoon out the squash into a bowl, discarding the skin
5. Add a tablespoon of olive oil and the ricotta, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste.
6. Mash everything together with a fork and set aside for later.

For the Brussel Sprouts

1. Place an oven-proof pan on your stove.  Place on high heat
2. Add several tablespoons of olive oil and 2-3 cloves of whole garlic.  Let the garlic cook for a minute.  You’re really just looking to flavor the oil with the garlic.
3. Throw in your precut brussel sprouts and a few pinches of salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.  Saute for 3-4 minutes.
4. Throw the entire pan into the oven and let bake for 20 minutes, reaching in every 10 minutes to stir them around to prevent burning.  You’re looking for color on the sprouts and for them to be fork tender.  Continue to cook until they’re tender with light brown cooking marks.

For the Scallops

Scallops cook quickly.  So this should be the final piece of the puzzle.

1. Dust your scallops on both sides with salt and pepper.  Some people like to dust the scallops with flour beforehand, but it’s up to you.  I don’t.
2. Place a pan on high heat.  Get the pan very hot, then add a few tablespoons of oil.
3. Place your seasoned scallops on the pan, being sure not to overcrowd the pan.  If you overcrowd it, you’ll reduce the temperature of the pan/oil and you’ll basically boil your scallops instead of searing them.
4. Do not move the scallops for 3-4 minutes.  After 3-4 minutes, flip each scallop and repeat the process.
5. Remove the scallops and place each on a spoonful of the butternut squash puree.  Surrounding each tower with your sprouts.

   

6. Enjoy!

Chicken Scaloppine alla Romana

Chicken Scaloppine all Romana

This exact recipe can be used with Veal.  But because I live in DC (insanely expensive city) and the purpose of this blog is to provide inexpensive gourmet recipes, I substituted chicken.  

Scaloppine is one of the easier yet harder recipes.  The difficulty lies in the pounding of your chicken, the easier part is everything after that.  To properly scaloppine a piece of meat, it’s important to understand that you’re not actually trying to pound it (despite the name).  What you’re trying to do is evenly hit your meat and pull to the site with your mallet.  If you hit it too hard and unevenly, you will break the meat.  Hit and pull….sounds like life-altering advice to me.

Ingredients

• 2 thinly cut chicken breasts
  

  Chicken Scaloppine alla Romana Ingredients

• 1 cup of flour
• 10-12 sliced crimini mushrooms (you can use any mushroom you choose, but crimini is traditional.  Just don’t use button mushrooms – they suck.)
• 1 tablespoon capers, rinsed
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• handful of chopped parsley
• Juice of 1 lemon
• salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste

Directions

1. Place your thinly cut piece of chicken on a board and pound lightly with a mallet.  While you pound, be sure to pull to the side in one smooth motion.  Pound until the chicken is 1/8 inch thick.
2. Place flour in a bowl with salt and pepper.  Dredge your chicken in flour, evenly coating each side and dusting off excess flour.
3. In a large hot pan, add olive oil (or butter for more flavor).
4. When oil is hot (not smoking though), add your chicken.  Let sit for 2 minutes, then flip and let sit for another 2 minutes.  Each side should have a little color.
   

   Chicken Scaloppine alla Romana chicken

5. Remove chicken from pan and place on plate.
6. In the same pan, add your crimini mushrooms.  Saute for a few minutes until soft.
7. Add the dry wine, let cook for 1-2 minutes.
8. Add the broth, capers, butter, and 3/4 of your parsley.  Let cook on medium heat for a few minutes, until the sauce has thickened up.
   

   Chicken Scaloppine alla Romana sauce

9. Taste and add salt/pepper if needed.
10. Place your chicken back into the sauce and cook for 2 minutes until chicken is reheated.
    

    Chicken Scaloppine alla Romana reheat

11. Plate the chicken and throw the remainder of your uncooked parsley over the dish.
12. Enjoy!

 

Savory Egg Crepes with Crispy Andoille Sausage, Asparagus, Wild Mushrooms, and Dill Tomatoes

Savory Egg Crepes with Crispy Andoille Sausage, Asparagus, Wild Mushrooms, and Dill Tomatoes

Did you know “brunch” was apparently created in London around 1895, when a writer of Hunter’s Weekly wrote the following:

“Instead of England’s early Sunday dinner, a postchurch ordeal of heavy meats and savory pies, why not a new meal, served around noon, that starts with tea or coffee, marmalade and other breakfast fixtures before moving along to the heavier fare? By eliminating the need to get up early on Sunday, brunch would make life brighter for Saturday-night carousers. It would promote human happiness in other ways as well. Brunch is cheerful, sociable and inciting. It is talk-compelling. It puts you in a good temper, it makes you satisfied with yourself and your fellow beings, it sweeps away the worries and cobwebs of the week.”

- Guy Beringer, “Brunch: A Plea,” Hunter’s Weekly, 1895^[4]

Guy Beringer should have been knighted because I am a HUGE fan of brunch – not so much because of the food, but because I love the entire affair (and let’s be honest, who doesn’t love portmanteau (combination of two words).  I love getting a group of slightly hungover friends together around 1pm, devouring a ton of breakfast food, and enjoying one several of my favorite alcoholic beverages – the Bloody Mary.

So the other day, the wife and I decided to do our own brunch at home.  We got a ton of ingredients, two bottles of champagne, and set to work.  Unfortunately, she was on a no-carb diet so I had to improvise.  And hence, the no-flour crepe was born.

This recipe is insanely easy to do and replicate.  Feeds 2 starving/hungover/slightly drunk people.

Ingredients

• 1 uncooked andouille sausage – cut into half inch slices
• a handfull of wild mushrooms – cleaned and sliced
• 8 stalks of asparagus – ends removed
• 4 eggs
• A handful of cherry tomatoes (or any tomato you want) – cut in half
• 1/4 red onion – diced
• 1 handful of dill – cleaned and chopped
• Juice of 1 lime
• A few tablespoons of milk
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine the tomatoes, onion, dill, lime juice, salt and pepper.  Let sit before beginning the rest of the process.
   

   Egg Crepes Dill Tomatoes

2. Preheat an oven to 400 degrees.  Place your asparagus on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a dribble of olive oil to prevent sticking.  Throw in the oven and let cook for 10 minutes.
   

   Egg Crepes Oven Roasted Asparagus

3. While asparagus is cooking, place a non-stick pan on the burner.  Add your andouille sausage in the pan.  No oil is necessary as these guys will ooze all their fat out.  DON’T TOUCH THEM FOR SEVERAL MINUTES (at least 3-4).
4. Flip and repeat the process.
5. Once they’re cooked through and crispy, remove from the pan and place on a plate lined with paper towels. Cover with tin foil to keep warm.
   

   Egg Crepes Andoille Sausage

6. Drain most of the fat from the pan, leaving a few tablespoons to cook with.  Add your mushrooms to the pan, salt and pepper to taste.  If you have rosemary or thyme on hand, this would be a good time to add it.  Both those herbs love mushrooms.  Cook until soft, and remove from pan.
7. Crack your eggs in a small bowl.  Add salt, pepper, and a few tablespoons of milk. Whisk until blended.
8. Wipe your pan clean and place back on the burner.  One of the most important parts of cooking eggs is not overheating them.  In this case, you want the burner on medium heat.
9. Add a little bit of oil and spin the pan around to get the oil all over.
10. Add half the eggs to the pot, making sure it JUST barely coats the bottom of the pan.  Do not touch it until it has cooked through.
    

    Egg Crepes – Sautee Pan

11. With a spatula, loosen the edges until you can slide the “egg crepe” around on the pan.  Slide it off the pan and onto a cutting board.  Repeat until you’re out of eggs.
    

    Egg Crepes Taking Off the Pan

12. Place your sausage, asparagus, and mushrooms inside the crepe at one end.  Think back to college and roll it up into one tight little sucker.
    

    Egg Crepes Rolling Up

13. Place it on a plate and add the dill tomato mixture on top.
14. Enjoy!!

 

The Perfectly Cooked Steak – The Non-Grilling Edition

Perfectly Cooked Steak – The Bite

Every once in awhile, I cook a meal for myself.  The wife may be out of town or hanging out with friends and I have the entire afternoon to myself.  I either go for my Classic Bolognese Recipe or I make the veteran move for a big Ribeye Steak cooked in my cast-iron pan.

I used to be a grill-only type of steak guy, but I read a report a couple years ago by the top chefs in Washington DC on how to best cook a steak.  The overwhelming majority of chefs claimed the oven was the best way to produce the perfectly cooked and most tender steak imaginable.  So I gave it a try and haven’t looked back.

Ingredients

• 1 Steak of any cut, approximately 1 inch thick – in this example, I used a .8 lb Ribeye Steak
• Salt and Pepper

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 420 degrees
2. Place an oven-proof pan on the stove until it’s hot
3. Heavily season your steak on both sides – don’t be afraid to over-season, roasted salt and black pepper is a delicious flavor on cooked meat.  In this step, you can also cut up some rosemary or thyme and add it to the steak.  Rosemary is my favorite addition.
4. Add a tablespoon of oil to your pan and place the steak over the heated oil.
   

   The Perfectly Cooked Steak in a Cast-Iron Pot

5. If your steak is 1 inch and you want it medium rare, cook for 5 minutes without moving the steak.  If you want medium, add a minute.  If you want medium-well, add two minutes, etc.
6. Flip the steak and immediately throw it into the oven.  Leave it in the oven for the exact same amount of time that you cooked it on the stove.  5 minutes for medium rare, 6 minutes for medium, etc.
   

   The Perfectly Cooked Steak – Flip And Put in the Oven

7. Take the steak out of the oven and place it on your plate, with a small pad of butter sitting on the top of it (not necessary, just a favorite Italian style step of mine).  It’s VERY IMPORTANT that you let the steak sit for 5-7 minutes before cutting it.  This step allows the juices inside the meat to redistribute and cool.  If you cut prematurely, your steak will bleed and you’ll lose crucial minutes of final cooking.
   

   Perfectly Cooked Steak – The Final Product

8. Crack open your favorite bold wine or stour beer and enjoy.

Perfectly paired sides are:

Roasted Root Vegetables

Sweet and Spicy Green Beans

Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus with Balsamic Vinegar and Parmesan Shavings

Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus with Balsamic Vinegar and Parmesan Shavings

Asparagus, or little trees as I called them growing up, is a delicious vegetable with an interesting history.  Did you know it’s  been around longer than most vegetables, dating as far back as 3,000 BC in Egyptian kitchens.  Emperor Augustus of Rome is quoted as saying, “faster than cooking asparagus” – a metaphor for quick action. 

But what probably makes asparagus so unique is not it’s history, but it’s effect on the human body.  According to a 2010 study, about 22% of the population has the autosomal genes required to smell asparagus in urine.  This includes smelling other’s urine after eating asparagus.  

So while this recipe is simple and delicious, it will still make 1 in ever 5(ish) of your friends sniff when you pee.  Enjoy!

Sometimes the simpler things in life are better.  When it comes to something like Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus with Balsamic Vinegar and Parmesan Shavings, this simple saying couldn’t be more accurate.  For this recipe, all you need are four ingredients, salt/pepper, and a hot oven.

Ingredients

• 1 bunch of Asparagus, hearty/woody ends removed
• 1/4 lb Prosciutto (San Danielle if possible, but any will do if you’re on a budget)
• Parmesan Cheese
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Olive Oil
• Salt/Pepper/Red Pepper flakes to season

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. After washing and removing the ends of your asparagus, group into threes.
3. Take a slice of prosciutto and place the three asparagus at one end.  Roll each group until they’re bound together by delicious cured meat.
4. Place on oven sheet, leaving a little bit of room between each roll.
5. Sprinkle a bit of salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and olive oil over each roll.  If you want to get fancy, add any of your favorite herbs (Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano would be best)
6. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until the prosciutto begins to crisp and the asparagus begins to turn brown.  Remove from the oven.
7. Place the rolls onto your serving dish and sprinkle with a tiny bit of balsamic vinegar (the older and thicker the better).  Then take your parmesan cheese and shave over the dish.

Serve warm.  Good accompaniments or main entrees are:

Easy peasy crab cakes

Polpettine al Limone: Veal and Lemon Meatballs

Moroccan Tajine Chicken

 

 

Grilling Tips for your 4th of July

4th of July Grilling Tips

4th of July is a time for getting together with friends and family, and grilling food by the water.  Oh, and lets not forget the fireworks!  Basically, it’s a holiday that combines sun, food, booze, and laughter.  Can you go wrong?!

While almost everyone knows how to turn on a grill or setup charcoal, most master grillers don’t understand a few basic principles.  Read these quick tips to get the most out of your grilling experience and forever cement your position as Master Griller.

• Keep your lid closed!  When grilling, it’s important to keep the lid closed whenever you’re not playing with the food in it.  The best way to think of this – you wouldn’t try and bake with an open oven, right?  Whenever you open the lid, you lose the majority of heat that is cooking your meat.
• Make a hot and warm side on your grill – or, in cooking terms, a searing section and a warming section.  The purpose of this, is when you place a piece of meat or vegetable on the searing side (hot side), you create a crispy exterior with tons of flavor.  But if you leave it there too long, the outside gets burnt and the flavor destroyed.  Sear your product, flip it, sear the other side, then transfer to the warming section.  This side of the burner will cook the meat throughout without compromising the crispy exterior.
• Clean your grill!  I can’t say how much of a pet-peeve this is.  A dirty grill is filled with burnt flavors, old meat from last weekend, and doesn’t expose your new meat to the hot irons.  When your meat cooks on old meat, it sticks and messes with the flavors.  To clean it, turn on the grill with the lid closed.  After a few minutes, use a brillo pad or scouring tool to get rid of the old burnt meat. Then close the lid, and let the irons heat up before placing meat on the grill.
• When cooking with fish, the easiest way to make sure it doesn’t stick to your irons is to get the searing side hot, and with a oil-soaked paper towl, rub the irons quickly.  Then place your fish on the grill.  This tip will keep any fish from sticking.
• Always season your meat and vegetables before putting on the grill.  Some oil, salt, and pepper goes a long way towards building great flavors.  I am a big fan of using fresh rosemary and thyme with my chicken, beef, and vegetables; bay leaves with pork; and dill with fish.  But in reality, you can play around with your herbs to find the perfect balance.  Don’t be afraid to over-season your meats.  I tend to err on the side of too much salt and pepper than too little when grilling (not any other style of cooking though!).  When was the last time a piece of meat came off the grill and you thought it was too salty?  It just doesn’t happen.
• Color is flavor.  When you flip your meat, if there’s no color on the side that’s been on the irons, it’s either not hot enough or you flipped it too quickly.  Be patient, but attentive.  There’s a fine line between color and burnt food.
• After you grill meat, let it sit for a minimum of 5 minutes before cutting.  Those 5 minutes allow juices to redistribute throughout the meat and prevents bleeding – where your meat spills juices the second you cut it, creating a pool of juice and flavor around the cut.
• Always have an alcoholic drink in hand when cooking.  It’s a mandatory law and a chance for you to force people to bring you drinks without the rules of a drinking game playing to your favor.
• Not sure whether your chicken or meat is cooked to your liking?  An easy way to tell is with your fingers.  Push down on the thickest part of the meat, then compare that feel to your hand.  Huh?  Well, if you take the tip of your thumb and touch it against each of the fingertips on the same hand, you’ll get temperature gauges by touching the thumb portion of your palm and comparing it to the meat.  Thumb to index finger is medium rare.  Thumb to middle finger is medium.  Thumb to ring finger is medium well.  Thumb to pinky is well done.
• Above all else.  ENJOY YOURSELF!

Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Min – Egyptian God of Reproduction

Did you know Lettuce was developed from weeds in Ancient Egypt, dating back as early as 2680 BC?  Did you also know it was thought to help Min, the Egyption reproduction god “perform the sexual act untiringly”?  Yeah, me either.  But good to know…I guess.

Now, if you’re like me and you enjoy experimenting with flavors, spices, and techniques (basically the adult version of playing with your food), then you’ll love this recipe.  I first tried lettuce wraps as a fish taco substitute.  Recently though, I decided to bring in some Asian-influenced ingredients and see what happened.  The result was one of my favorite meals that fills me up without the guilt of a comfort-food meal.   

Total Cost – $13.00

Feeds – 3 people

Ingredients

• 1 head of Boston (butter or bibb – same thing) Lettuce – rinsed and whole leafs removed
• 1 lb ground chicken
• 1 red bell pepper – sliced
• 1 hot red pepper – seeds removed and sliced
• 1 red onion – sliced
• 5-10 mushroom caps, rinsed with a damp paper towl and sliced
• 2 carrots – peeled and sliced into matchsticks
• 1 inch of ginger – diced
• 1 clove of garlic – diced
• 1 pear – peeled and diced
• 1 tablespoon sriracha (if you don’t have this, don’t worry)
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• salt and pepper to season

Directions

• 

  Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

  In a hot pan, add oil, chicken, salt and pepper.  Let cook until browned, then stir until fully cooked.

• Remove chicken from skillet and place on a plate with a paper towl to drain liquids
• In same pan, add onions, garlic, ginger, peppers, and carrots.  Let cook for 2-3 minutes.
• Add sesame oil, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sriracha sauce, mushrooms, and chicken.  Cook until soft.
• Place two boston lettuce leafs on top of each other and add a spoon full of the mixture, then add the diced pears to the top, with a few drops of sriracha sauce.
• Enjoy!

How to make Super Creamy and Smooth Homemade Hummus

Saladin – The Original Hummus Lover

Did you know Hummus dates back to 13th century Egypt?  Some culinary sources say it goes even further back to the 11th century and the times of Saladin, the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria.  Regardless, hummus is an ancient food packed with Vitamin C, Vitamin B, Iron, Fiber, and Amino Acids.  

Hummus is one of my favorite dipping snacks with hot pita or fresh vegetables (carrots, peppers, and radishes).  Since moving to NYC, I’ve realized it can also be used as the base of a meal. 

I’ve been making homemade hummus for years, but was always a bit disappointed with the results.  The hummus was delicious, but never creamy or smooth like store-bought products.  I still made my own, because I appreciated the end product and enjoyed experimenting with flavors.  But it wasn’t until a week ago that I stumbled upon the secret.  

How to make Creamy Hummus

What is the secret?  To make your hummus super creamy, you need to spend about 15-20 minutes of your day removing the shells of each individual chickpea. It’s very easy and takes about 5-6 seconds per chickpea.  Simply pinch each pod and the shell will fall off.

Feeds 4-6 people

Costs:  $4-$6

Ingredients

• 2 regular sized cans of chickpeas or 1 large can – RINSED
• 2 lemons – juiced
• 2 tablespoons tahini sauce
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 ice cubes
• 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

How to make Creamy Hummus

• In a food processor or blender, add your tahini, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.  Blend until creamy – about 1 minute max.
• Add your shelled chickpeas and ice cubes to the blender or food processor and blend for 3-5 minutes, or until the ice cubes are dissolved.
• Check the mixture to see if it’s the consistency you want.  If not, add a splash of cold water or a bit more olive oil and blend.
• Place mixture in a bowl, top with olive oil and paprika, or whatever you like.
• Enjoy!