Perfect Hummus

My sister and I are always trying to find the perfect hummus. We actually have entire conversations about hummus ingredient ratios. Hummus is one of those things that changes, with the region/family/season. Some people add roasted peppers, some olives, some roast their garlic first. I went to a Mediterranean restaurant last week where the hummus contained no garlic at all. When my friend asked the owner why the hummus had no garlic, the owner said "people in Los Angeles don't like to have bad breath." While the idea of voluntarily leaving garlic out of anything seems fucking insane to me, I have a strange appreciation for the ever morphing dip that is this mush of garbanzos.

Last weekend, I brought some of my recent dip-experimentation to a friend's birthday party. It was really well balanced batch, the closest to perfect that I have made thus far. Thought I'd share it...

Classic Hummus (perfect or not)

2- 10 oz cans of garbanzo beans
1- 8 oz tub of tahini (I like the Trader Joe's kind)
4 cloves of garlic
The juice of 1 lemon
1 t salt.
1/2 cup good cold press olive oil (good oil matters here, use the good stuff)

Place all the ingredients into your food processor and blend until creamy. That's it. Oh, and depending on your tahini, you may need to add a little more olive oil.


I served it with sheep's milk feta cheese and olives that I marinated in a dash of good oil, fresh herbs, chili flakes and lemon zest. Then just for a little extra pretty, I put some of the marinade on the top of the hummus.




This dish was cleaned out in about 45 min and I found myself regretting not bringing the entire batch to the party. Next time I will for sure. Because I will absolutely make this again.