Hummus - a problem of overcatering

"Many of us enjoy hummus as a dip but struggle to figure out what to do with it before it spoils" Tasting Table

That's me.

Last night it was our turn to host the monthly neighbourly get together - last night an estimated group of 14 which ended up as 11 I think. It's not a meal, but sort of is - at the same time. Anyway, as usual, not wanting to disappoint the neighbours - or more importantly my husband - we had too much food. Cold meats and cheese? No problem - they just go back into the fridge and we shall gradually eat them. Tomato sauce to dip the finished sausage rolls into? No problem. Tomato sauce can go into virtually everything. A few vegetarian sausage rolls? - I'll just eat them for my lunch. But I also have one pea and mint dip which I can see I can use in various ways - but hummus? I have heaps of it - about the amount you see above. Heaps - and such a distinctive taste. Now what can I do with that, because we are not big hummus eaters on a daily basis?

I should mention here that I have so much because this time I decided to use Ottolenghi's recipe in the OTK Shelf Love book. It's rather more complicated than the usual recipe I use - I think it's Claudia Roden's - although only marginally I suppose. The difference being that if using tinned chickpeas, which of course I was - against their recommendation - again of course - you are supposed to rub the drained chickpeas between two tea towels to extract the skins, which was interesting, curiously soothing if you're in the mood but tedious. And I have to say I wasn't even aware that chickpeas had skins. Apparently they can cause digestive problems. Then you had to cook them a bit with some cumin and bicarb before doing all the blending bit. And I didn't add enough of the chickpea water, so it was a bit thicker than it should have been I think - it looked a bit like the picture at the top of the page - not the OTK's perfectly creamy versions.

On top of the hummus - to add interest - was some Ottolenghi Sweet and smokey almond oil - which is now half mixed in.

People did eat some of it, but (a) there was so much that I didn't put it all out and (b) only about a third was eaten.

So what am I going to do with it all? Always bearing in mind that another problem is that David is not a really big fan, so I'm going to have to 'hide' it somehow. I wonder how long it takes to go off?

So today I resorted to the internet for ideas - and of course there are some - although lots of them are not all that helpful because either they only use up small amounts or they're for things that we don't generally eat - sandwiches and salads or falafels - I mean that's adding chickpeas to chickpeas really, but apparently adding a small amount of hummus helps the whole thing bind together.

The main thing that people suggested and logically the most useful was to freeze it - in useful portion sizes, but I know for a fact that once in the freezer they would be forgotten and besides there is absolutely no room in my freezer for anything at all. Almost one whole shelf is now taken up with frozen baguettes - because that was an overcatering problem too. They will get used however. So no - I'm not going to freeze it.

So what else did I find and are any of them at all tempting or useful? Maybe is perhaps the answer. But not tonight. I have either some leftover chicken, or various other bits and pieces suitable for the dustbin omelette genre. Although maybe the leftover chicken could accommodate some of the hummus in some way.

So let's start with that chicken. I think there are two potential uses here. Before the leftover dilemma I was going to make some kind of quick braise with mushrooms as the main accompaniment - I have a carton of them that needs using a well - in a creamy sauce - and perhaps a potato gratin. Maybe I could just add some of the unadulterated hummus to the sauce - or even to the potato gratin. Worth pondering. The other was a suggestion to dilute some with chicken stock for a sauce, add some soy sauce and toss into noodles with spring onions. I think just that is probably not sufficient, but yes it's a good start to a stir fry, with some of my leftover chicken, and something else as well - capsicum, onions, maybe some of that tomato sauce as well.

The most common suggestion for chicken however, was to simply coat the chicken with the hummus and then roast it adding other things if you want of course. And I have to say this looks like an extremely tempting way

to get rid of quite a lot of hummus. It won't help me alas as my leftover chicken is already cooked, so I think the sauce option is the way to go for me at the present time.

And this method doesn't have to be confined to chicken of course. You can do it with other meats - and fish - too. You could mix the hummus with other things as well.

A good idea.

The two other most common suggestions were pizza and pasta. Hmm.

For pizza - you just substitute the hummus for the normal tomato base. Add cheese and you're done. Well I think that's what has happened with this one, but of course, you could top with whatever you like - it would seem logical to go the Middle-Eastern route with things like eggplant, capsicum, and so on, or even minced meat as with those Lebanese pizzas. Maybe you could combine the hummus with tomato sauce - and as already noted I also have some leftover tomato sauce. But maybe it's a bit too much?

Pasta - this is the New York Times version of a Lemony hummus pasta which is very simple - just lemon juice, garlic and shallots added to your hummus, but as they say:

"You can add chickpeas, fresh herbs, za’atar or almost any roasted or fresh vegetable to this pasta and it will feel like your own."

Chickpeas as well as the hummus? One's immediate reaction is 'too much chickpea' but there were lots of recipes that included both the hummus and the chickpeas. But it's not very Italian is it? I know they often have pasta and beans - pasta e fagioli - but it's not usually chickpeas - and definitely no tahini.

As an aside to the pizza there is also the tart idea - which I found when substituting 'dip' for 'hummus' in my search terms. We love tarts in this family and it is indeed a good idea - spread your dip or hummus over some pastry top it with something - vegetables - more of that chicken - olives .... and then cheese - you've got to have cheese, because Lifehacker Australia tells us that "bean dip really excels when used as a substrate for melted cheese." Well anything is improved with melted cheese on top doesn't it?

And whilst we are on cheese I should mention the suggestions for toasted sandwiches and quesadillas. Compose your sandwich or quesadilla - it's a kind of sandwich after all - with your hummus on the base, other ingredients - and lots of grated cheese and then toast until oozy and delicious. Well that's the theory anyway.

Then there's soup - well you can have chickpea soup so why not hummus soup? The soup here is indeed made from leftover hummus but the writer does first tell us how to make your own hummus. However, with leftover hummus it couldn't be easier to make soup - just dilute it and add some more lemon juice - heat - and voilà soup - which you you can obviously make pretty by the addition of things on top.

When I was looking for pictures to illustrate the soup idea, there were lots for 'Hummus soup' but I soon discovered that they didn't use leftover dip - the soup was just made with the same ingredients. I'm splitting hairs I suppose, but never mind. Hummus soup made from hummus ingredients plus whatever else the maker wants to add, is a traditional thing apparently.

Earlier I dismissed the notion of salad dressings as not useful because I have too much, but it should be noted that salad dressings are a kind of sauce and so you could make up your own sauce from this and that in your fridge and store-cupboard and then use that anyway that you can devise.

My last suggestion is bread - shown here as a flatbread in a post on Tasting Table, which had many other suggestions too. There are no recipes but detailed suggestions such as this one for the bread:

"To make bread from your hummus, start by combining it with a flour of your choice. All-purpose or whole wheat flour are your safest bets, but gluten-free options like buckwheat flour will also work, too. Once you add the other ingredients, like baking soda and tahini for moisture, you can bake it until perfectly golden.You may need to play around with ingredient ratios depending on the consistency of your hummus. Likewise, a drizzle of olive oil may also come in handy for bringing the dough together."

Their picture shows flatbread, but elsewhere I have seen pictures of loaf bread as well.

I've covered most of their other suggestions but not all. And bear in mind that anything you can do with hummus you can do with dips as well.

It's all food for thought and maybe I'll try a couple of the above. Although I could just put it all in the green bin, and tell myself I'm doing good for the planet - which is possibly better than amusing myself with foodie experiments that may well not be worth doing.

I didn't mention the massive amount of baklava left over - maybe a donation to my grandaughters' birthday party next wekend - or Delia's leftover fruitcake that David forgot to put out! Not sure whether that will keep. Perhaps I'll go and make myself a cup of coffee and have some with that.

YEARS GONE BY

August 13

2025 - How to begin a cookbook

2024 - Greenland - so little and so much

2023 - Small beer

2022 - Nothing

2021 - Missing

2020 - Missing

2019 - Nothing

2018 - Nothing

2017 - Marlborough sauvignon blanc

2016 - The commercialisation of water