Roasted Sweet Pepper Hummus with Kale Chips

This week I’ve been talking about what has come in our CSA box(es) and the diamonds so far have been sweet peppers, which have been turning into hummus. Any day now the Missus will be turning into hummus herself so I got the idea to try pairing it with something a bit healthier than crackers. I’ve been hearing rumblings about kale chips for a while now and though I was skeptical, I decided to give it a go with both elephant and curly kale. Tossed in a drizzle of olive oil, S&P and baked for nearly 10  mins at 350F (in case you wanted to try them out for yourself)….these were….em….interesting. Did they make a nice “chip?” Eh no. Would they make a nice garnish cut in strips? I’m thinkin’ that’s a much better idea. But I just wanted to show you that even the so called ‘pros’ like myself  learn by trial ‘n’ error. The real star here is the hummus!

RECIPE:

Makes 1 1/2 cups

1 can garbanzo beans

1/4 cup +  1 tbsp. roasted sweet peppers

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp white pepper

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp cold water

First things first, roast your peppers. I used a variety of sweet peppers in this batch as well as a jalapeno from my garden. I used 1/4 cup of roasted plus a tbsp. total in the recipe. There’s no science here so just use what you have and as little or as much as it makes once roasted. Let your taste buds do the talking!

YOU NEED: Assorted sweet peppers & olive oil

ROASTING DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 420F. Toss the whole peppers in a drizzle of olive oil. Lay them on a foiled sheet pan in a single layer. Pop in oven for 20-25 mins, turning occasionally, until the skins are dark and charred. Once all sides of the skins are browned, put them into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap for 10 mins approx. Remove peppers and peel skins, discarding. Next remove stems and seeds and rough chop.

NOTE: Though it’s easier to peel peppers under running water, DO NOT do it. Rinsing roasted peppers under the tap will wash away most of the flavor. Bad idea!

HUMMUS DIRECTIONS:

Put the roasted peppers, garbanzo beans, S&P into a food processor and blend. While running, add in the water in a steady stream followed by the oil, same way. Taste and season.

Now in our second CSA box there were more sweet peppers so of course I knew I’d be at this again. This time we only had two peppers so I robbed a beautiful red bell from the neighbors (thanks Kitchens!!) and roasted them off. I added a squeeze of lemon, a couple squeezes of M’lady’s favorite hot sauce and a touch more olive oil and man, this was fantastic! It only took 2 days before it was gone so best of luck keeping it in your house!

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible.