Beetroot hummus with spicy, crunchy roasted chickpeas

When I get the flu, a cold and the like, I usually am a pretty calm and patient person. I sit on the couch with my hot cup of tea and a big packet of tissues and I’m as quiet as a mouse.

As the days pass and the damn cold, flu etc. refuses to go away no matter how many glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice I have drank or how many soups I’ve eaten, well, then things change just a tiny bit.

I gradually become more and more impatient, I get cranky and a real bitch sometimes, every little thing bothers me and S needs to have nerves of steel to be able to cope with me.

Until the moment when I get noticeably better, I’m not ashamed to admit, the nagging goes on and on. In the case, however, that S is the one with the flu, then the nagging begins on day one, but that’s how it goes, doesn’t it? You have to accept the person you are with along with all of their flaws, because if you can’t handle or stand their flaws, then you won’t and can’t stand them. Because those flaws, idiosyncrasies and quirks are more evident during moments of weakness and difficult situations and of course perceivable by the people who know us, people with whom we live and share our lives, those who have seen us sick and unkempt, sad and depressed, with eyes swollen from crying, heart crushed from loss, spirit broken from failure, those who have seen us in our worst and have stood there, beside us.

Those who instead of getting upset or disappointed in us and run away from us, they run towards us and love us with greater intensity, they encourage us, make us laugh, embrace us so tightly that the warmth and sense of security brings us back to life, they lift us up not with words but with their actions, loud and clear. They endure not only us, but all that we sometimes don’t want to or can’t bear. If it’s not like that, then you are not with the right person and if you’re not willing to be like that with your partner, then you still haven’t found the right person for you.

I don’t need to search for the right person for me, I have already found him, and one mistake I never want to make is take him and all that he does for me for granted. I always try to please him in every way I can, not only because he stands by me during difficult times, but because he does so effortlessly.

One of the ways I please him is with my cooking and it shouldn’t come as a surprise because S loves good food. So when I felt a little better and I could cook something more than plain spaghetti or soup, I made this beetroot hummus that S loves. Apart from its delicious flavor we both love its color. Isn’t it fantastic?

I have been making this hummus for years yet nowhere as often as I should, because as a food blogger I always search for the next thing to make, forgetting about the recipes I love. The last couple of times I made it, I served it with spicy roasted chickpeas and it was incredibly good.

If you haven’t made spicy roasted chickpeas before then you’re missing out. Apart from being utterly delicious they are healthy, easy and quick to make and totally addictive. And of course any leftovers, you can have as a snack in front of the tv.
So do try the hummus and chickpeas this weekend!

As for all you Greeks out there, this hummus is the best side dish to serve at your Kathari Deutera (Clean/Ash Monday) table along with these:
Lagana (Greek Lenten yeasted flatbread)
Taramosalata
Melitzanosalata (Greek Smoky Eggplant Dip)
Greek braised octopus with short pasta (and how to clean and prep octopus)
Greek octopus with vinegar, olive oil and dried oregano
Midopilafo (Greek mussel pilaf) and How to clean and prep mussels
Sautéed shrimps with tahini and garlic sauce and a sumac, cumin seed and pistachio dukkah
Greek fried calamari
And more Lenten recipes

Have a great Kathari Deutera!

Beetroot hummus with spicy, crunchy roasted chickpeas

You can use either boiled or roasted beets to make this hummus. I used boiled beetroot here, but in this recipe I had used roasted beetroot and it was amazing.

In Greece we eat roasted, salted chickpeas called stragalia (στραγάλια) as a snack, but this spicy version is the best.
You can play around with the recipe to your liking. Adding turmeric, cardamom or other spices and various dried herbs will change the flavor profile of the chickpeas. You can serve them not only with this hummus or other dips, but also on top of soups or salads.

Yield: 6-8 as an appetizer

Ingredients

for the beetroot hummus
4 raw beetroots (about 600 g), tops and stalks cut off
250 g cooked (boiled) chickpeas (see here how to make them), or canned chickpeas, rinsed well and drained
1 garlic clove, finely grated
4 Tbsp lemon juice
2½ Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1½ Tbsp tahini (sesame paste)
2 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp salt

A handful fresh dill leaves, finely chopped
Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling

for the roasted chickpeas
260 g cooked (boiled) chickpeas (see here how to make them), or canned chickpeas, rinsed well and drained
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp sweet smoked paprika (Spanish pimentón de la Vera, dulce)
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp chilli powder

Pita breads, toasted, to serve

Special equipment: large food processor, baking tray, baking paper


Preparation

for the beetroot hummus
Scrub the beetroots under cold running water with your hands and place them in a medium-sized pan. Fill the pan with cold water to cover the beetroots completely and put on the lid. Place pan on high heat and bring to the boil. Boil the beetroots for about 40 minutes or until they become tender and you can easily insert a knife into them.

Drain them in a colander, leave them to cool and when they are cool enough to handle, peel them with a knife carefully. You don’t want to take too much of the beetroot away, only the skin which is pretty easy to peel off as it comes away very easily.
Cut the beetroots into pieces and leave them to cool completely.

Place them along with the rest of the ingredients for the hummus into the bowl of your food processor and process until smooth. Give it a taste and add more salt if needed. Also check if it needs more olive oil or lemon, adjusting to have the desired flavor and consistency. It shouldn’t be runny nor stodgy and it should have a tang, not be too sweet.

Empty it in a bowl.
You can keep it in the refrigerator, in an airtight container or covered with plastic wrap for up to 5 days. Take it out of the fridge half an hour before serving and stir it very well with a spoon or spatula to make it creamy and to fluff it up.

for the roasted chickpeas
Preheat your oven to 200ºC.
Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Take your cooked chickpeas and rub them with paper towels to remove the skins. If you’re using canned chickpeas, dry them first. Discard the skins and transfer the chickpeas to a bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and toss to mix well.
Transfer chickpeas to the baking paper-lined baking tray and spread so they are in one layer.

Place them in the middle rack of the preheated oven and roast them for 35-40 minutes, until they are golden brown and crunchy, checking them every 10 minutes to make sure they don’t burn and tossing them a bit.

If you try them straight out of the oven they may seem not crunchy enough, but once they cool they will crisp up a lot! Keep that in mind and don’t be tempted to roast them for longer or they will be rock hard when cool and you won’t be able to eat them.

You can keep them in an airtight container for weeks.

serve the hummus
Place the hummus in a large bowl and drizzle with some olive oil.
Mix some of the roasted chickpeas with some finely chopped dill leaves and scatter over the top.
Serve with pita bread cut into triangle shapes and enjoy!

A favorite meal

The other day, I was craving fried potatoes with crumbled feta and dried oregano. So I made just that.

I peeled a couple of large potatoes I found hiding in my vegetable basket among some onions and garlic heads, I cut them into long strips and fried them in olive oil.

I dropped them in a large bowl, added some good sea salt and a couple pinches of dried oregano that I had brought back with me from Euvoia last October, and tossed them.

I divided them between two plates, I took a piece of feta from the fridge and crumbled it on top, adding another pinch of oregano.

On the side, a bowlful of boiled kale left-over from the day before, dressed with olive oil and freshly squeezed lemon juice.

We ate our meal as the warm rays of the sun were coming through the window.

Greek Fried Potatoes with Crumbled Feta and Dried Oregano

This has been one of my favorite meals ever since I can remember myself. The side of boiled greens (kale, Greek wild greens like zohous or vlita , spinach, chard) is essential.

Ingredients
Floury potatoes
Olive oil (or sunflower oil), for frying
Feta
Greek dried oregano

Boiled greens with olive oil and lemon juice, to accompany the potatoes

Preparation
Peel the potatoes and cut them into strips.
Add oil in a large, deep pan (fill it halfway up) or in a deep fat fryer, heat it to 175°C and add the potatoes. Fry until crisp and lightly browned. It takes about 12 minutes in the deep fat fryer and a little longer in a pan.

Empty the potatoes in a bowl and sprinkle with sea salt and a couple pinches of dried oregano. Toss and serve into plates. Crumble as much feta as you like on top and add another pinch of dried oregano. Serve with the side of boiled greens.

The Cheese Saganaki

When someone is kind enough (thanks mom) to send you a huge piece of Kefalotyri cheese from home, along with some orzo and Greek thyme honey and numerous other foodstuff you've been craving for months, then the decent and obvious thing to do is, well, eat them right on the day they've arrived. And yes, reader, that's exactly what I did.






When the box of goodies from Greece arrived at my doorstep last month, I couldn't wait to get upstairs and into my kitchen. I cooked up a mean giouvetsi (traditional Greek orzo dish) with chicken, which is not the typical meat you'd use for giouvetsi but I've made the conscious effort to eat red meat as infrequently as possible, and let's not forget, Greek Easter Sunday is only two weeks away when copious amounts of lamb will be consumed by yours truly, plus I'm pretending to be fasting and in my mind, chicken is Lent appropriate.






The honey has been used in various desserts and morning rituals of bread slathered with butter and said honey, and the Kefalotyri has been enjoyed grated on top of aforementioned giouvetsi, nibbled with some freshly baked sourdough bread and good white wine and of course, used in one of my favorite mezes, the saganaki.






I've talked to you about saganaki before (what it is, what the name means, etc) when I made one with soutzouki, tomato and eggs, but I've held off sharing with you my true saganaki love; the cheese saganaki. So here it is.






You take a big slab of Kefalotyri cheese, you dredge it in flour and then you drop it into the sizzling olive oil. You watch it as it turns from pale, creamy white and smooth-textured, to yellow, golden brown and crispy all around.






You carefully take it out of the saganaki pan, you squeeze some lemon juice over the top and you dig in. Salty, fried, zingy goodness straight into the mouth. Along with a glass of white wine or ouzo and some good company, it's really all you need to be happy.
Okay, maybe some extra mezes wouldn't hurt.











Greek Kefalotyri Cheese Saganaki (Fried Kefalotyri Cheese)

The cheese that's suitable for saganaki is a hard cheese because it needs to keep its shape during frying and not melt. Here, I used a Kefalotyri from Kastoria, a beautiful city in northern Greece, which is not too salty and is very firm. When the cheese is fried, its salty flavor is intensified so avoid using overly salty cheese.
A good substitute for Kefalotyri is Pecorino Romano or Pecorino Sardo.

Cheese saganaki can also be made with numerous other Greek cheeses like Graviera or Kefalograviera (similar to Gruyère), Kaseri (similar to Kashkaval or Caciocavallo), Metsovone (similar to Provolone), hard Feta, or Halloumi.

This Kefalotyri saganaki will definitely be making an appearance at my Easter Sunday table as it pairs excellently with lamb.






Yield: enough for 2 people

Ingredients
A large piece of Kefalotyri cheese (12 x 9 cm with 2.5 cm thickness), around 140 g, rind removed
2-3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
Olive oil (or sunflower oil), enough to come up 1-1 ½ cm up the sides of the pan

A lemon wedge

Special equipment: saganaki (small, round frying pan with two handles) or small frying pan


Preparation
Take the Kefalotyri cheese piece and place it under running water for a couple of seconds, enough to moisten it.
Place the flour on a plate and dredge the Kefalotyri in the flour on all sides, making sure you coat it well. Gently tap the excess flour off.


Pour the oil in your saganaki or small frying pan and heat over medium-high heat. When the oil starts to shimmer and it has gotten really hot, add the Kefalotyri.
Fry the cheese for about 2 minutes on one side, then turn it on the other side and fry it for another 2 minutes, or until it has taken on a golden-brown color.


Turn the heat off and take the cheese out of the pan using a spatula. Place the cheese saganaki on a plate covered with paper towels in order to absorb the excess oil and then onto a serving plate.

Serve with a lemon wedge. Squeeze the juice over the top and enjoy!

If you want to serve the fried cheese in the saganaki pan, then pour out the oil and serve.

And a side dish of carrots

I would love to tell you how this dish will change the way you view carrots forever. I would love to tell you how this dish was a revelation for a non carrot-loving person like myself. I would even love to tell you how the taste of carrots in this dish is something you have never, ever, tasted before.






But, no. I'm not going to tell you any of these things, because they simply would not be true.






What I am going to tell you is that if you're looking for a good vegetable side dish for your Christmas, New Year's, (or Festivus) dinner that tastes fantastic and is not going to bore you to death, then look no further.






Listen, I'm not the kind of person who serves side dishes just for the sake of serving them or just for the sake of filling up a dinner table. I'm the kind of person who, particularly at special occasions, I want to enjoy every single mouthful.






Every dish I put on the table has to be worth it and believe me, this is totally worth the twenty to twenty-five minutes it'll take you to prepare and cook. Yes, you don't need more than that, which of course leaves you with ample time to focus your attention on the other, more intricate dishes you're planning to make.






And as far as the flavor goes, imagine sweet, young, winter carrots glazed in luscious thyme honey, glistening under good melted butter, having the pungency of grained mustard and the delicate sourness of lemon. It is obvious that balance is key here, which is certainly achieved, but what is paramount, is enjoyment. So enjoy!










Thyme Honey-Glazed Carrots with Whole Grain Mustard and Lemon

I hate categorizing foods and saying that this dish is for Christmas, that is for Easter etc. This is simply a great side dish. You can make it anytime you want a side of vegetables to accompany a big, juicy steak, your favorite meatballs, or fish.

I use very young and rather small and thin carrots for this dish, which means that I don't boil them before I glaze/caramelize them. In case your carrots are bigger and thicker, boil them first for 6-7 minutes and then continue the process as in the recipe below.
Also, I don't like my carrots too soft, I want them to have some bite, so I don't cook them for too long. That is all a matter of preference of course. So, taste as you go along and cook them according to your own textural preference.

I always use thyme honey but you can use any other type of honey you have on hand.






Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients
500 g carrots (small, conical and thin ones)
125 g unsalted butter
1 Tbsp thyme honey (or any other runny honey)
1 tsp whole grain mustard (I used Maille à l' Ancienne)
2 Tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
Salt
Lemon zest, freshly grated (from 1 lemon)


Preparation
Remove the green leaves from the carrots, leaving some greens still attached. Wash them well under cold running water and peel them.

In a small bowl, add the honey, the mustard and the lemon juice and stir well until combined.

Place the carrots in a large and wide skillet, in one layer. Add the butter and heat over medium-high heat. When the butter has almost melted, pour the honey-mustard-lemon juice mixture over the carrots and add salt to taste. Allow the carrots to cook for about 20 minutes over medium heat, until they soften and caramelize, making sure to turn them every now and then in order to cook evenly.

When they are ready, remove them from the pan and arrange them on a platter. Pour some of the melted butter-mustard sauce on top and garnish with lemon zest.

You can prepare them in advance and reheat them when you want to serve them.

The Saganaki

There are dishes that you aspire to cook, dishes that intimidate or unnerve you and then there are other dishes, those that effortlessly happen in your kitchen. They come together easily, unassumingly, they ooze comfort and smell and feel like home.






It's the kind of food that is cooked for and meant to be shared by family and friends. It is food prepared on a whim, when you're all sitting at the backyard on an early spring evening and you suddenly realize everyone's hungry and you could use something to eat.

Fresh soutzouki

It is familiar food that your mom would cook, food over which fights would start once upon a time at the dinner table between you and your brother, when you'd fight over the last bite. This is one of those dishes.






This is Politiko Saganaki; a dish that is the epitome of my family's comfort food. Politiko refers to the type of Greek cuisine I grew up with (of which you can read all about here) and the saganaki, well, if you don't know what saganaki is then I'm your girl.






Anyone who is familiar with Greek food knows saganaki. The word saganaki (σαγανάκι in Greek) is a diminutive of sagani (σαγάνι) which means two-handled frying pan or dish so, essentially, saganaki is a small round frying pan. Saganaki also refers to a number of dishes in Greek cuisine that are cooked in this type of pan.






And now that we've gotten over with the formalities and definitions of the word, let's get down to business. Saganaki is simply awesome fare. It is a traditional mezes and one of the ultimate types of food that all Greeks love. Saganaki dishes are always present in any large Greek feast or intimate gathering and are served at the table directly in the pan, with a side of good wine, beer or ouzo. Since the saganaki is a small pan, the portions are rather small, usually one or two servings.






Most people are under the misconception that saganaki is fried Greek cheese but, even though fried cheese like kefalograviera, kefalotyri or feta is a saganaki dish (and among the best ones of the kind), it is not the only such dish there is. There's garides (shrimps) saganaki made with whole shrimps, tomato and feta cheese, mydia (mussels) saganaki, and different vegetables or meat saganaki, in which case the limit is only your imagination.
Oh, and something else, saganaki is not a flambé dish. Just setting the record straight.






And then we have my kind of saganaki, the Politiko Saganaki. At first glance, this may seem like just a dish of fried eggs and sausage. No, it's far more than that. There are juicy tomato slices hidden underneath the eggs, sizzling in the clarified butter. There's crumbled feta on top and hot red pepper. But the secret of all this, is the sausage, which is not an ordinary one. It's soutzouki*; a thick, fresh, spicy and hot beef sausage that is traditional in Politiki cuisine and is what makes this dish extraordinary.

Fresh soutzouki

The flavor of the soutzouki is deep and unique. It has a spicy quality that slightly burns the tip of your tongue as you savor it and along with the creamy eggs, salty feta and fresh tomato, you have the quintessential Greek fried saganaki. A dish you should try simply because it will be one of the best Greek dishes you will ever have.


*Not to be confused with soutzoukos, which is a Greek sweet made with grape-must and almonds.















Politiko Saganaki (Greek Saganaki with Eggs, Tomato, Feta and Soutzouki)

Not all Greeks are familiar with soutzouki—it is a fresh sausage used predominantly in Politiki cuisine—and many are not used to its spiciness and piquant flavor. It contains cumin, sumac and hot ground pepper and is usually made with beef although you can find some that are made with pork. It's fairly fatty and you can add it not only to this saganaki but also to pizzas and sandwiches.

It is really worth the effort of tracking down soutzouki. The dish will not be the same without it and you'll be missing out on a good thing. You can try it at Greek, Armenian, Lebanese or Turkish food stores. I can't really suggest a substitute for it because there's nothing else like it but you can try a hot and spicy beef sausage of your choice. What I can suggest though, if you're living in Athens, Greece or even if you're just visiting, is that you go to the store* that sells the best soutzouki and pastourma in the world. The store that has been in the same location for more than 50 years and from which my grandfather used to buy his soutzouki since the '60s.

You can either use clarified butter** or vegetable oil in this dish but I would strongly suggest you use clarified butter. Even though it's not the healthiest thing out there (who are we kidding, this dish is not a health conscious dish but we can still be friends, right?), it is the best choice for this saganaki.






Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients
3 Tbsp clarified butter (or light-flavored vegetable oil like sunflower oil)
3 slices of fresh soutzouki, thickly sliced (casing removed)
4-5 tomato slices, thinly sliced
3 large fresh eggs
50 g feta cheese
Salt
Boukovo (Greek hot red pepper) or cayenne pepper, ground

Special equipment: saganaki (small, round frying pan with two handles) or small frying pan


Preparation
Heat the clarified butter (or vegetable oil) in the saganaki or other small frying pan, over medium heat and when it starts to shimmer, add the soutzouki slices. Brown them on both sides (they will brown very quickly because the soutzouki is a fresh sausage, it will take about 20 seconds per side).


Take the soutzouki slices out of the pan and add the tomato slices. Sauté them for 1 minute until they soften a bit, carefully crack the eggs on top and arrange the soutzouki slices between them. Fry the eggs over medium heat to your liking.

Turn the heat off and crumble the feta cheese on top. Season with a little salt (keep in mind that soutzouki is fairly salty) and boukovo or cayenne pepper.

Serve immediately, directly in the saganaki.



*The name of the store is "Ο Γιώργος" (O Giorgos) and the address is
Δ. Γούναρη 21-23, στοά Πολίτου, Πειραιάς (D. Gounari 21-23, stoa Politou, Piraeus)

**Clarified butter is butter from which the milk solids and moisture have been removed. What remains is pure butterfat. Clarified butter can be heated to higher temperatures than regular oil. If you want to make your own clarified butter, you can follow David Lebovitz's superb recipe.