Homemade Hummus

Recently Andrew and I were invited to a friend's place for an evening of drinks and good food.  All attendees were asked to bring an appetizer and drinks to share.  Well, the drinks part of the equation was a no brainer. 

We like wine.  Yes we do.

So a bottle of Kluge's Albemarle Simply Red, purchased recently on a wine tasting weekend in Charlottesville (see, I told you we're winos), was the perfect choice for the evening.

The appetizer selection proved to be a bit harder.  I wanted to bring something filling and tasty, but I also wasn't prepared to spend a whole afternoon cooking.  Also, I wanted to make something that would be easy to transport without fear of a leaking, stinking mess on our hands. After searching some blogs and the food network, I decided that hummus would be the perfect accompaniment to a night with good friends and good wine.

Roasted Garlic Hummus
Recipe adapted from several sources: Sweet Pea's Kitchen and About.com

Ingredients:

•  1 15 ounce can chick peas, drained
•  1 head garlic, intact
•  1/4 cup olive oil
•  1/4 cup tahini
•  1 teaspoon salt
•  1/2 teaspoon chili powder
•  Juice from one lemon
•   1/4 cup water
•  1 teaspoon onion powder

Preparation:

• Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Remove outer papery skins from the garlic heads. Chop off the top quarter of garlic heads so that all of the cloves are exposed. Drizzle with olive oil (about a tablespoon), and wrap the garlic in foil and roast until very tender, 45 minutes to an hour. Once the roasted garlic is cool enough to handle (about 10 minutes), squeeze the cloves from their skins. 

•  In the bowl of a food processor, combine chickpeas, tahini, roasted garlic, minced garlic clove, lemon juice, water, salt and chili powder, until the mixture is almost fully ground, about 15 seconds.  Scrape down  bowl. With the food processor running, add the olive oil through the feed tube in a steady stream. Scrape down the bowl and continue to process until the hummus is smooth and creamy. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. (Helen's note: I ended up adding an extra tablespoon of olive oil and an extra tablespoon of tahini paste, as requested by Andrew, my official taste-tester). 

• Transfer hummus to a serving bowl, top with roasted garlic slices and sprinkle extra chili powder. Drizzle with extra olive oil (optional) and serve with pita, grape tomatoes, peppers, carrots, or any other vegetables.