You say “bay-sil”, I say “ba-sul”.
You spell it “hummus”, we spell it “houmous”.
Here’s one thing we can agree on: the time is coming when we all need to use up the basil growing in our gardens and lining our supermarket shelves before frosty mornings kill it off and caprese salads are a sad, distant memory.
Are you sick of pesto? It’s kind of the ubiquitous, basil-user-upper, but what about this: basil hummus. What’s not to like? Two of my favourite things to eat (pesto and hummus for those slow on the uptake), combined into one glorious concoction, perfect for spreading in sandwiches and scooping up with pita bread (yeah, yeah, we spell it “pitta”).
Basil Hummus
from Simply Recipes
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 2 cups sweet basil leaves, packed
- 3 cloves garlic, smashed then minced
- 2 15-ounce cans garbanzo beans (chickpeas), rinsed and drained*
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- Up to 1/4 cup water
- 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons salt
- Several dashes Tabasco
- 1 teaspoon tomato paste
Directions
- Heat the pine nuts in a small skillet on medium high heat. Stir them when they start to brown. When most of them have lightly browned, remove them from the pan into a bowl to cool. (Reserve a few pine nuts for garnish.)
- In the bowl of a food processor, place the basil leaves and the garlic. Pulse until finely chopped. Add the rinsed and drained garbanzo beans, most of the pine nuts, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, tomato paste, and a few dashes of Tabasco. Pulse several times, for several seconds each time, until the hummus is smooth. Add more Tabasco and salt or lemon juice to taste. Add water to the point of desired consistency.
- To serve, place in a bowl and drizzle a little olive oil over it. Sprinkle with a few toasted pine nuts. Serve with pita wedges, crackers, or granary bread. Makes about 3 cups of hummus.
Just one more blueberry recipe and then I promise to calm it down.
I couldn’t resist muffins – I’ve been trying to perfect the ‘muffin top’ for as long as I’ve been attempting muffins. This is my best attempt to date but I’m still not 100% happy. I’ll get there.
I had plans for making something different this weekend but then I popped out my Ottolenghi book which has been sitting untouched for the last month or so and found these. Like I said, I couldn’t resist. They’re delightful and remind me a little of these blueberry crumb bars I made last summer. Soft, bouncy, airy, and with a rich, buttery crumble top. They don’t feel heavy despite their frankly gargantuan size. All good things.
Adding tiny chunks of apple and lemon zest gives the muffins such a fresh pop of flavour, though nothing overshadows those pops of warm blueberries amid light, fluffy cake. Pop the kettle on and get baking.
Blueberry Crumble Muffins
from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook
Ingredients
For the muffins:
- 540g all purpose flour
- 5 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 340g sugar
- 140g unsalted butter, melted
- 380ml milk
- grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1 Granny Smith apple (unpeeled), cut into 1cm dice
- 200g fresh blueberries, plus a few extra for the topping
For the crumble topping:
- 150g all purpose flour
- 50g sugar
- 100g cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
Directions
For the muffins:
- Preheat the oven to 170C/340F. Line a muffin tray with paper cases.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, lightly whisk together the eggs, sugar and melted butter (make sure it’s not too hot). Whisk in the milk and lemon zest, then gently fold in the fruit.
- Add the sifted dry ingredients and fold together very gently. Make sure you stir the mix just enough to combine; it should remain lumpy and rough.
- Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases to fill them up. Generously cover with the crumble topping to form small domes over the batter, then dot with a few extra blueberries. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre of a mufin comes out clean. Take out of the tins while still warm. Makes 10-12 muffins.
For the crumble topping:
- Put the flour, sugar and butter in a bowl and mix with your hands to work it to a uniform breadcrumb consistency. Make sure there are no lumps of butter left.
This is a super easy and quick summer supper idea which came about from one of those great open-the-fridge-and-see-what-you’ve-got moments.
Sweetcorn and tomatoes are both wildly sweet and flavourful right now and what better to complement them than salty bacon? It’s got all the right elements for perfect bite after perfect bite: sweet and crunchy sweetcorn; soft and juicy tomatoes; chewy, salty bacon; and just the right amount of seasoning to top it all off.
Simple to the max – since it’s just throwing things in a pan one after the other – it would be excellent boxed up and taken on a picnic, served alongside bbqed chicken, scooped up with bread or tortilla chips, or served as part of brunch. You get the picture: it’s versatile. Dig in.
Sweetcorn, Bacon and Tomato Saute
Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon, cut into 1-inch strips
- 2 ears of corn, kernels sliced off
- 1 large heirloom tomato, cored, halved, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 red onion, finely diced
- Pinch of red-pepper flakes
Directions
- Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until browned, 4 to 6 minutes.
- Add corn kernels; season with pepper and a pinch of crushed red pepper. Cook until corn is coated in bacon fat and heated through, about 4 minutes. Stir in red onions. Remove from heat, add tomatoes and serve immediately.
