Baldur

Well Chef Baldur is back again in the Radio Baldur test kitchen
Today I am goiing to show you how to make Hummus.

Into the work bowl of your food processor place:
2.5 cups of drained cooked chickeas (this is approximate 2 of the cans that are sold at my local market, but certainly you can boil dried chickpeas)
the juice of 1 lemon
1 clove of garlic peeled
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 roasted red pepper, seeded & any bits of charred skin removed (optional)
hot red pepper flakes to taste
1/2 teaspoon dried ground sumac berries (or to taste)

Puree everything well until quite smooth, you may need to add another tablespoon or two of olive oil to get the consistency right.
stir in:
1/2 cup of chopped fresh parsley (optional)
salt (optional and really unnecessary)

Serve on toasted pita bread, matzohs, wheat crackers or as a sandwich filling.

Note.
Traditionally tahini, a pureed sesame seed paste is added to hummus and you may certainly do so. Baldur has given up stocking it in his kitchen. I would use less than a teaspoon in this recipe and no matter how I repackage the tahini it makes an oily leaky mess in my refrigerator. Tahini seems to have a mind of it's own and refuses to stay contained. Baldur got tired of his refrigerator smelling like a sesame seed processing plant and now just doesn't buy it.
Oddly I use toasted sesame seed oil in some of my recipes and like it, but not in my hummus.

Baldur

Baldur enjoys dolmas but has never made them.

I do make rather nice moussaka if I must say so myself, but being a vegetarian version it is hardly traditional.
Sometimes Baldur uses Veggie Burger crumbles instead of ground meat but i find chickpeas that have been roughly chopped in the food processor are even better.
I chop a couple large onions and fry them in olive oil until nicely caramelized, then I add a peeled and pummeled clove (or 6) of garlic, the chopped up chick peas and some oregano and cook it all together.
I layer
fried eggplant
1/2 of the chickpea mixture
bechamel sauce
feta cheese crumbles
more fried eggplant
the other half of the chickpea mixture
more bechamel sauce
more feta
then a last layer of fried eggplant
the rest of the bechamel sauce
the last of the crumbled feta
paptika.

Bake until insanely delicious smelling, golden and bubbly.

Baldur

-t +r =paprika

marius

Oh - gotta try the veggie moussaka! Knew I spelled it wrong - but figured YOU would spell it right! Thanks!

Thanks for the hummus recipe too. Will let you know when I get around to making it, but in the meanwhile ... ground sumac berries??? Pray tell, do you harvest and ground these yourself or buy them? Recall reading that sumac berries have been used for medicinal purposes, teas, etc. but didn't know of use as a spice.

Laughed when I read your thoughts about tahini. I do like it, but agree with you ... a ten year supply is overkill ... in more ways than one!

Baldur

Baldur always approached sumac with trepidation (+3 points).
Somehow the word is always paired into an unsavory phrase in my mind: 'poison sumac'.
Indeed poison ivy is related botanically to the sumacs.
The variety of sumac with the ornamental red drupes (+75 points at the very least) that grow wild along the roads here in New England is not toxic. The berries were actually popular in a lemonade-like beverage in the colonial period. Howver Baldur purchases his sumac from a spice merchant.
Penzeys Spices is a very reputable company that has enhanced, my spice cabinet for years. The sumac used here at Chez Baldur comes ground already and originates in Syria.

marius

Ahhh - nothing like finding out you're sick because you're having a reaction to antibiotics! The whole world is rosier today!

Anyway, did not know sumac grew in Syria. Will have to google and see how it looks compared to our native species. And, does the CHEF who lives at CHEZ Baldur know if it would be correct to say, "I ate some rose hips drupes!" Or must I keep calling them berries? They are a favorite this time of year - hiker's delight!

marius

And .......................... HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DRAGON!

May you have many more, each better than the last, each finding you in the best of health, surrounded by loving friends and family, and all that feeds your heart and soul! [I'm not very poetic but this is much better than the cake I tried to draw!] -marius

Dragon

Thanks marius, for the record I enjoyed both the poem and the cake you drew.

With all this food conversation I must tell you all that I tried out indigo's Danish Cucumber Salad which she posted here some time back and it was such a huge hit at our small family picnic that I made a double batch the very next day to take to another family get together. Wonderful recipe! It's gone straight into my Red Hot Recipes book!

indigo

Hey Dragon, Hope you had a nice B-Day. I'm glad you enjoyed the Danish cucumber salad. I also have a fantastic Broccoli Leek Soup if anyone is
interested.

marius

Broccoli and leeks? YES PLEASE!

matthew

I have just been introduced to Google chrome web browser... It has an automatic spell checker... Even here on radio Baldur... What a nifty little tool...

Baldur

If everybody used that I would need to find other things to correct around here.
matthew stop slouching, sit up straight.
There, Baldur can correct posture.

marius

Matthew, the new gaget sounds gret but I still kinda liek splelling mistakes. Their's somethink abot it that settels the ole brian. if yew no what I meen. (Sorry - spouse says I'm obnoxious now that I'm filling better. I think he mite be rite.) : )

Baldur

-M +m +d +a -a +of -ek +ke -l -ir +re -k +g +u -el +le -e +d -ia +ai -i +I -ew +ou +k +w -e +a - +ee +gh -e +gh -e

Baldur

marius, your posture is quite nice despite the spelling.

marius

Yes - good posture seems to have come from daily yoga - it's stretched me to 5'3" versus the old 5'2" - seriously! Tomorrow I will chek yur slepping misteaks to sea if yew got them all. (giggle)

marius

ooops - I meen my slepping misteaks.

marius

Baldur - I'm impressed. You did very well correcting my spelling mistakes ... you only missed ONE, to subtract the "il" out of "filling better." You did add the two e's though!

This probably STILL ranks you in the 100th percentile, especially if we factor in the percentile ratings for various Baldur talents, skill sets, art works, Dr. Bear stories, puzzles, projects .... oh and Baldru Radio! : )

marius

and just for you, my own spelling correction for Baldru -ru +ur

Robindcr8l

'All Robin, some of the time'

During our morning radio show, I periodically like to open the phones for an episode of "open-mike poetry". I'll get us started, then await a caller to entertain us with more.


Our thinkdraw friend known as Marious
Has always been quite hilarious
The flu had her down
But she still was a clown
And would never be called nefarious!

Now, limerick is not my easiest form of poetry, so I'd like to challenge all of you listeners to think outside the box when composing your lyrics. And extra points will be awarded if they are set to music!