Friday fun: the "secondary" gadgets you use as primaries

[Jenise]

Right, for the outside. I tiled the roasted slices for an outside wrap too. But I added some skin for extra texture in the filling too--not a lot, just enough for 'flecks'.

You make your own hummus?

Definitely. It's fun to vary the spice mix and lemon/garlic ratio. I've been doing for years but lately as blood pressure was creeping up it's a good way to control sodium (I pressure cook a batch of chickpeas from Armenian grocery rather than use canned, though you can find low-salt canned). I tend toward a lemony/cuminy style but vary it a bit each time (cayenne, sumac or za'atar- though sometimes those are added as topping- or occasionally blend in roasted peppers, carrot, or olives).

Hm. Maybe I'll have to give that a whirl.

Do you rub the skins off the chickpeas before blending? I read somewhere (here?) about the difference it makes.

Yes, we have a coffee grinder that is a dedicated spice grinder. We have mortars/pestles, but when you need to do a lot fast. ...

Oh, yes, I have a small steel mortar/pestle and a Braun coffee grinder for spices.

Do you rub the skins off the chickpeas before blending? I read somewhere (here?) about the difference it makes.

That was the issue with the one time I made my own hummus. Maybe I was going for too large a batch, but it's a lot of labor to peel off all those skins. Even for me (someone who by normal human standards is not afraid of extra prep to get a tasty dish).

The Ottolenghi books suggest the skin removal (cook with baking soda and they come right off). Or you can place on a kitchen towel, put another towel on top, and rub. It does make a bit airier. But I like a moderately dense hummus, so usually don't bother (can also add more oil if you think too dense)

The skins issue for me is that they don't add any flavor. I was irritated to disccover that I could tell the difference between peeled and not. It takes forever, because even if they do slip off you still need to shake them somewhere. It took 15 solid minutes of work to do a single half-liter can. I specifically got this recommendation from Paula Wolfert.

If we are talking about something not adding flavour, that would pretty much cover zucchini - bulk and some texture but the flavour has to come from some other ingredient. There are lots of veg that don't have huge amounts of flavour, but zukes top the scale for neutral for me.

I would have worried more about texture with the skins. And I usually cook beans in larger amounts (a few lbs dried).

Anyway, probably not on my agenda for the near future. Maybe one day.

I’ve found that a lot of the skins get very loose during the soaking and cooking and float to the surface where they ca easily be skimmed off. Then ijustvrub them around in the liquid to get more off skim And then I ignore the rest.

[Jenise]

I’ve found that a lot of the skins get very loose during the soaking and cooking and float to the surface where they ca easily be skimmed off. Then ijustvrub them around in the liquid to get more off skim And then I ignore the rest.

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