Week 6 - fresh pea hummus

I hope you're not averse to eating green foods, because this amazing hummus combines two foods I love: fresh English peas and tahini. I could eat tahini by the spoonful (I won't, but I could). Unfortunately, this is a recipe I don't think you could make without a food processor. One thing you might do is use the peas in a salad (cold potato salad with peas??), and make a lemon and tahini dressing. Fresh pea hummus doesn't taste exactly like real hummus with chickpeas, but it doesn't taste completely different either. It almost tastes like you dipped some peas in hummus, if that makes sense. Very summer-y, and great with cucumbers or carrots dipped in, and of course pita bread.

I adapted this recipe from Smitten Kitchen's smooth hummus. I can't say that my version was "ethereally smooth" but it was absolutely delicious! 

 

Fresh pea hummus

-2 C fresh peas, shelled
-2 cloves of garlic, or less to taste
-1 lemon
-1/2 C tahini
-1 tsp salt
-1/4 C warm water
-olive oil for serving 

Fill a small sauce pan halfway with water and bring to a boil. Fill a bowl that will hold all of your peas with ice water. Add peas to sauce pan, cover and cook for no longer than 2 minutes, or cooked to your liking (but err on the side of 'al dente' because peas can get mushy quickly). Quickly remove from heat, drain and add to ice water bowl. Stir until peas are ice cold, and drain again. Coarsely chop garlic and add to food processor bowl with peas. Run food processor for one full minute, stopping occasionally to scrape down the bowl. Add remaining ingredients except for olive oil, and run food processor for another full minute or until the texture and consistency is smooth and to your liking. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil over the top. 

Keeps well in a tupperware or bowl in the fridge for a few days, with a thin layer of olive oil over the top and plastic wrap on top of the oil.