For Janis - Hummus

A quick and short post this morning.  For those who know us, thank you for your prayers and good wishes.  For those who don't, our dear daughter was seriously injured when crossing the street for work the other day.  So I'm a little too busy to post let alone do much cooking.  For now it's fast food, hospital fare and food people bring to us.  Thank you all of you for being there. 

A little about this recipe.  I saw this on Food Network a while ago and made it Sunday before all of this happened.  I love Alton Brown's method for cooking the chick peas in the my slow cooker.  The hummus came out creamy and very garlicky (I used 2 large cloves) with just the right amount of lemon.  Makes a large batch because the recipe calls for 1lb. of dry chick peas.  To me it was well worth the long cooking process (8 hours in the slow cooker).  I hope you will give this a try it is delish!

Ingredients

• 1 pound Slow Cooker Chickpeas, cooled, recipe follows
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 5 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/3 cup tahini, stirred well
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for serving
• Powdered sumac, optional

Directions

Place the chickpeas, garlic, and kosher salt in the bowl of a food processor. Process for 15 to 20 seconds. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and process for another 15 to 20 seconds. Add the lemon juice and water. Process for 20 seconds. Add the tahini. Process for 20 seconds, then scrape down the sides of the bowl. With the processor running, drizzle in the olive oil.

To serve, transfer the hummus to a bowl and drizzle with additional olive oil and sprinkle with sumac, to taste, if desired.

Slow Cooker Chickpeas:

• 7 cups water
• 1 pound dry chickpeas, sorted and rinsed
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• Special equipment: a 2 1/2-quart slow cooker

Place the water, chickpeas, and baking soda in a 2 1/2-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on high heat for 4 hours, or on low heat for 8 to 9 hours, or until tender. Drain and serve immediately, or use in desired dish.