Spaghetti in Hummus Sauce

What? . . . Hummus sauce?  Yes.  I was pondering what to make for lunch today, knowing that I want to keep Vegan for the time being, and started thinking about how I could use up some of the hummus we have without simply dipping fresh vegetables (which we don't have a lot of right now anyways) into it.  After some quick Google research, I threw this meal together -- and both Hubby and I are very happy with it.  I will definitely make this (or some variation thereof, because the herbs and veggies could definitely be swapped for other thins) again.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 pound dry spaghetti
• A few florets of broccoli -- stems sliced, and the tops broken into small pieces
• 1/4 of a medium onion, chopped
• 1 to 2 Tablespoons of minced garlic
• 1 to 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Red pepper flake
• 2 to 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 pinches of lemon zest
• 1/2 to 2/3 cup store-bought hummus
• Fresh parsley, chopped

DIRECTIONS:

1. Boil some water and start he spaghetti cooking.
2. At the same time -- but in a different pan -- saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil, along with salt, pepper, and red pepper flake to taste.  Stir in the lemon juice and lemon zest.  Turn off the heat if things are cooked down before the pasta is done.
3. When the pasta is 2-3 minutes from being done, drop the broccoli into that same pot so it, too, can cook. Then plop the hummus into the sauce pan, add a ladle-full of the pasta water, and whisk it all together to form a creamy sauce.
4. When the pasta and broccoli are done, drain them (or just use tongs to grab them out of the pot) and put them into the sauce pan, along with the parsley.
5. Toss everything to combine, re-check for any seasoning adjustments you may want to make, and enjoy!

This post is an original recipe that I created from scratch.

My goal is to share my love of food simply -- without all the fluff (unless it's Marshmallow Fluff!), long winded stories, excessive and repetitive photos, or incessant rambling that I see on other blogs.  I personally tend to skip over all that, just scrolling straight to the bottom in hopes of finding the recipe right away.  Therefore, I hope you appreciate the brevity above.

** You'll also never find ads here. **

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below or
contact me directly using the form near the top of the right-hand column.

Around the World in Foodventures (Algeria: LHAM LAHLOU)

Another country, another ingredient I've never used before. 🙂

Lham Lahlou (which can be alternatively spelled "El Ham Lahlou" or "Lahm Lahlou" or "L'ham Lahlou") is a sweet, braised combination of meat and dried fruits most often reserved for breaking the fast during Ramadan.  It's high sugar content provides boosted energy levels, helping people power through their evening prayers; and because it's so sweet, it is usually eaten more like a dessert at the end of a meal in small, snack-size portions, rather than as a larger dish or main entrée.

It's pretty easy to make, and doesn't require too many ingredients (some of which you can be flexible on the selection of depending on what you have around or available -- in other words, there are lots of variations of different dried fruits and warm spices used).  I followed this particular recipe:

https://www.halalhomecooking.com/lham-lahlou-algerian-sweet-lamb-tagine-recipe/

The final product wasn't cloying, which was nice -- and I was surprised (not in a bad way) at how much the relatively small amount of Orange Blossom Water (the new ingredient this round) came through both in flavor and aroma, compared to the rest of the components which were much more plentiful.

That's about all I have to say on this one.  Short read today.  👍

This post is part of my project: "Around the World in Foodventures" (I decided I want to expand my culinary horizons even further by making the national dish or a popular recipe, or some signature food or traditional meal from every country in the world. Maybe it'll happen alphabetically, or by region, in random order, or something else. I figure if we can't (yet?) travel everywhere, we at least have the luxury of being able to taste it. It’ll be fun and interesting, but obviously, will take a long time to get through -- as I'll only be doing it once a week or so at most. I am chronicling the journey here.)

“If I’m an advocate of anything, it’s to move…Walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food.” --Tony Bourdain

Around the World in Foodventures (Italy: MALLOREDDUS WITH WILD BOAR SUGO and SPAGHETTI ALLA BOTTARGA)

I'm about 75% Italian (with parts coming from both the mainland and Sicily).  I grew up eating Italian food at least every other day.  Both sides of my family have, combined, several (multiple hours long, obviously 😉) different sauce recipes.  We can make gnocchi from scratch, pretty much blindfolded.  (I even have a particular tiny knife that I've used for gnocchi making, and gnocchi making alone, since I was first allowed as a kid to touch knives.)  We judge Italian restaurants (which are ubiquitous where we live) by their meatballs.  These are just the very basics, of course -- lest we forget about holiday specialties: escarole soup, braciole, pizzelle, I could name things all day . . .

So cooking a typical recipe from Italy on this leg of my journey is essentially out of the question, because I've already made umpteen different things requiring varying degrees of skill, any number of times.  And to find an Italian dish that I wasn't already otherwise intimately acquainted with was, well . . . a bit of a challenge.

Please don't get me wrong, though -- I'm definitely not a snob about Italian food.  The vast majority of the stuff I consumed growing up (and still make to this day) is of the most simple variety; and I also do love me some Olive Garden once in a while just as much as the next person. 

Anyways -- I decided to thumb through Anthony Bourdain's "Appetites" cookbook (which I believe is the last thing he published, and which I had yet to cook anything from except Budae jjigae).  I settled on Malloreddus with Wild Boar Sugo and Spaghetti alla Bottarga, for (on top of sounding delicious) several reasons:

1. Malloreddus with Wild Boar Sugo includes a familiar-yet-still-uncommon ingredient (wild boar), and Spaghetti alla Bottarga utilizes something I'd only just recently heard of and had never used (bottarga);
   
2. Both are recipes from the family of Bourdain's wife, and therefore are Sardinian in origin (an area of Italy from which as far as I know neither side of my family comes).  Not only that, they are both considered classics; and
   
3. When I asked my friends to pick the next country for me to cook from (I intend to do every country, of course, but am for now following the list in the order they presented it to me), one suggested "Ancient Rome" -- and while these aren't ancient recipes, some research does tell me that bottarga "is discussed in "Libro de Arte Coquinaria," a book of Italian medieval cookery written around 1465 by Martino de Rossi, who is ... known as "the prince of chefs" or ... "the world's first celebrity chef."  Many of the recipes in the book ... were copied entirely by Bartolomeo Sacchi in his gastronomical treatise De honesta voluptate et valetudine, which has the distinction of being the first cookbook ever printed."  I'm calling it at least an ancient ingredient.

Wow, I think that's the most I've written in any of my Around the World in Foodventures posts!  So without further ado, here are the things. 

Usually I give a link to the recipes that I followed, but because I can't find these two in any first-hand sources online, I'm not completely confident that I wouldn't be violating copyright laws and/or recipe attribution standards were I to simply type out the recipes here.  So, I will instead refer you this time to Anthony Bourdain's "Appetites" and assure you that it's worth purchasing if for no other reason than the photos.  Of course, me having a big Bourdain tribute tattoo on my forearm, I might be a little biased.

What I will say is that they are both easy and simple recipes, the Malloreddus with Wild Boar Sugo being a several hours braise, and the Spaghetti alla Bottarga whipping together in literally just the time it takes to cook pasta.  Of the two, I definitely preferred the Malloreddus with Wild Boar Sugo, both because of the fresh, homemade pasta and the amazing flavor of the meat.  But I certainly didn't mind the Spaghetti alla Bottarga.  While I do eat plenty of different types of seafood, I'm just not a person who likes "fishy" things, and well, bottarga falls slightly on the fishy side for me.  Still, it is quite good, and I would eat it again.  I was pleasantly surprised by how much the red pepper flake came through in the flavors, as well as the pepperiness of the olive oil.

This post is part of my project: "Around the World in Foodventures" (I decided I want to expand my culinary horizons even further by making the national dish or a popular recipe, or some signature food or traditional meal from every country in the world. Maybe it'll happen alphabetically, or by region, in random order, or something else. I figure if we can't (yet?) travel everywhere, we at least have the luxury of being able to taste it. It’ll be fun and interesting, but obviously, will take a long time to get through -- as I'll only be doing it once a week or so at most. I am chronicling the journey here.)

“If I’m an advocate of anything, it’s to move…Walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food.” --Tony Bourdain

Around the World in Foodventures (Jamaica: ACKEE AND SALTFISH with JAMAICAN FESTIVALS A/K/A CARIBBEAN FRIED DUMPLINGS)

Ackee is on Time Magazine's (albeit generally alarmist) list of Top 10 Most Dangerous Foods, yet it's the national fruit of Jamaica.  Apparently illegal to import to or sell as fresh produce in the United States, it's also easy to find in its processed canned form at my local Walmart or Target.  

After doing a bunch of research, I learned that Ackee seeds are always poisonous, and can actually kill you by causing hypoglycemia and its resulting problems; as can the rest of the fruit if eaten too soon.  The flesh of the fruit, however -- once completely ripe and properly handled -- is said to be safe.  I was still a little nervous about using it, but the whole point here is to try new ingredients and experience different flavors, right?   I reasoned that if Ackee is such a risk, it wouldn't be consumed both raw and cooked by people all over the world every day . . . so I pressed on.

Here is my Ackee and Saltfish, which is Jamaica's national dish and most often eaten as a hearty breakfast.  It's served with a side of fried dumplings:

The recipes I used a my guide are:

• Ackee and Saltfish: https://www.africanbites.com/jamaican-ackee-and-saltfish/
• Caribbean Fried Dumplings: https://www.africanbites.com/dumpling/

The Ackee itself, which I of course tasted before putting it into the pan, had a flavor similar to something familiar -- except I just couldn't put my finger on what it was.  It is also, as my research warned, very delicate and crumbles into tiny bits quite easily.  The completed dish (while I'm not the hugest fan of it) is pretty good, with a nice heat from the pepper, and I can totally see why people eat it as breakfast -- it can really fill you up and fuel you for the day.  Though the star for me personally is the Jamaican Festivals (a/k/a Caribbean Fried Dumplings) -- the addition of nutmeg to the mix really gives it a wonderful background quality that had me going back for more.

So I ate the scary thing, and I am fine.  But I can't say I won't be eating a little extra sugar today just to be safe.  😜

This post is part of my project: "Around the World in Foodventures" (I decided I want to expand my culinary horizons even further by making the national dish or a popular recipe, or some signature food or traditional meal from every country in the world. Maybe it'll happen alphabetically, or by region, in random order, or something else. I figure if we can't (yet?) travel everywhere, we at least have the luxury of being able to taste it. It’ll be fun and interesting, but obviously, will take a long time to get through -- as I'll only be doing it once a week or so at most. I am chronicling the journey here.)

“If I’m an advocate of anything, it’s to move…Walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food.” --Tony Bourdain