Middle Eastern Fare -- Part 1 -- Hummus and Baba Ganoush

Hello, blog readers! Sorry in advance for the long break away from this lovely little blog. Life happens. What can I say?

I've been thinking about favorite foods lately, and decided to write a small series on my blog dedicated to Middle-Eastern food. I love it. However, I'll send it out to you in chunks. Here's a photo of a not-terribly-recent Middle Eastern feast I created:

Don't worry -- the other recipes for things like felafel, biryani, chopped cucumber salad, and the like are shortly to appear!


I thought I would start us off with something rather simple: dips. My favorite is hummus, but baba ganoush is very tasty as well.

Hummus can be made with many variations on the theme, but is usually a puree of chickpeas (garbanzo beans), garlic, tahini (sesame seed paste), lemon, and extra virgin olive oil. Herbs and other ingredients can be added to create different tastes. For example, substitute black beans for the chickpeas, omit the tahini, and add cumin for a zippy black bean hummus. Lighter versions of the classic hummus can also be made (for the calorie-conscious out there). Below are the original version and the lighter version - ALA Anne.

Baba ganoush is very similar to hummus, but has roasted eggplant as the base instead of chickpeas. Again, many variations can be made by adding herbs, spices, etc. Additionally, grilling the eggplant adds a nice smokey flavor to the dish. Below is my recipe for very basic baba ganoush, and that recipe can be lightened by substituting Greek yogurt for the olive oil. 

Hummus:
1 15 oz can chickpeas drained and rinsed
1 clove garlic peeled
juice of 1/2 lemon (or more to taste)
1 1/2 tbsp. tahini
1/3-1/2 c. olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Put ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Process until creamy and smooth. Add more/less olive oil to desired consistency. Serve with pita, vegetables, on wraps, etc.

Less Guilt Hummus:
1 15 oz. can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 clove garlic, peeled
1/2 c. nonfat Greek yogurt
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper to taste
water

Put ingredients (except water) into bowl of a food processor. Process until smooth. Add water to desired consistency.


Baba Ganoush:
2 large eggplants, cut in half lengthwise
1-2 cloves garlic, peeled
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper to taste
1-2 tbsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place washed and cut eggplant onto lined baking sheet, skin side up. Drizzle with olive oil (lightly). Salt and pepper. Place in oven, and roast until tender and browned on edges, turning once after about 10 minutes of roasting. Remove eggplant from oven. Cool completely.

Scoop roasted eggplant out of peel, and place eggplant and remaining ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Process until smooth. Serve with pita.


So...go forth and hummus!!

Banana Nutella Cake

The first time I tasted this cake at Alice's Tea Cup, I was in love. The cake is a moist and delicious banana cake with Nutella spread between the layers and topped off with cream cheese icing and some toasted pecans. (My picture doesn't do the cake justice.)

To start off with, I needed to find the perfect banana cake recipe. After trying about a dozen different recipes, I stumbled upon one I modified to be the perfect banana cake recipe. Thanks to Martha Stewart, this recipe is pretty great -- minus the filling and topping included in that recipe. The buttermilk adds the best touch, both taste and technique-wise. I have baked the cake in 2 9-inch cake pans, but have also baked it in a baker's sheet pan and layered it from there (making a layer cake in the shape of a large loaf).

For the filling, I suggest melting the Nutella in a heavy saucepan over low heat before spreading onto the cake. This will make the spreading much easier. If you are doing thin layers of cake, make the Nutella even thinner. (Another tip is to purchase Nutella from Cost Plus World Market. They make their own brand, and it's cheaper. Still delicious, but cheaper.)

About the icing, I must admit I like my icing on the less-sweet side of things. My cream cheese icing consists of:

1 stick butter, room temperature
2 pkg. cream cheese, room temperature
1 tsp. good vanilla extract (I'm enamored of the vanilla bean paste Williams-Sonoma carries.)
1-1 1/2 c. powdered sugar or to taste (feel free to add a quarter of a cup at a time, until the flavor is right)

Beat the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add vanilla. Add powdered sugar in small amounts, until desired consistency and taste are achieved. Remember...less is more.

Make sure the banana cake is cooled. To prepare as shown above, slice each round layer horizontally, so you end up with 4 layers. Place bottom layer on serving dish or cake plate prepared with parchment strips along the edges (to prevent filling/icing from dripping onto the plate). Place bottom layer on plate, and fill almost to the edge with Nutella. Place another layer on top, and repeat until last layer is placed. Ice with room temperature icing. Note: if preparing the cake in advance, spread the thinnest layer of icing possible, and refrigerate. Just before serving, spread another layer of icing. The thin layer of icing placed on the cake before refrigeration is called a crumb coat. After icing is complete -- and just before serving -- add toasted whole pecans to the top/sides of the cake.

Voila! Banana Nutella cake!

Nutella Scones

So, I've been meaning to create this blog for some time now. I am planning to post a whole slough of things right off the bat, and then I'm sure the posts will taper off a bit. I wanted my first post to be a brunch item, since brunch is my favorite meal. I love breakfast food, but really never take the time to eat a cooked breakfast during the week. It makes me a little sad, but that's why weekends were created. I'm convinced.

Back in April, I invited a few guests over for brunch. The menu included: Potato-Onion-Spinach frittata, Spinach Salad with Goat's Cheese, Berries and Grilled Chicken, Ricotta-Strawberry Napoleons, and Nutella Scones.

I'm posting one picture of the entire spread here, but will share secrets/tips to the perfect Nutella scone.

First of all -- use the recipe from the book Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented. (See the recipe here.) Brooklyn bakers Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito know their stuff. The recipe is great, but I thought I would add a couple of my own little tips -- having made the recipe multiple times.

First: Use the best possible cocoa powder. Hershey's and Nestle's are NOT going to cut it. Think Williams-Sonoma quality. I've used Scharfenberger (my favorite). The recipe suggests Valrhona. If you use a cheap cocoa powder, your scones won't taste chocolatey. At all.

Second: Bake the scones as directed in the recipe, but turn off the oven completely about 8 minutes before they're done. I know this sounds mental, but it has proven a great technique to moist yet flaky scones -- time and time again.