Chickpea Hummus with Roasted Red Peppers and Roasted Garlic

I am not ashamed to admit that to the right of this column is a blatant advertisement for my cookbook “Alcapurrias, Klopsenburgers & Purple Salad: Kitchen Memories from A - Z”.  It was written for my sons who asked me for the recipes of their favorite foods so they could prepare them in their own kitchens when the time came.  It is not a vegetarian cookbook.  My sons are carnivores.  I cook for carnivores.  But I also cook for myself.  Separately.  Occasionally they’ll show interest in my salt and fat free creations as they did when I spooned this hummus into a bowl.  “Fantastic!” they agreed after sampling ample portions.

Fresh red peppers are usually very expensive this time of year but our local market had a three-day sale recently and I bought several pounds for less than five dollars.   A quick inventory this morning of the vegetable crisper revealed just two remaining red peppers which would be just the right amount for hummus with roasted red peppers and roasted garlic. 

The oven was set to 400 degrees.  I lined a baking sheet with foil that got a quick spritz of canola oil cooking spray.  The seeded and cored papers joined a foil-wrapped whole head of garlic   that had its top sliced off and into the oven they all went.  After twenty minutes I checked on them, turned the peppers and set the timer for another twenty minutes.  What aroma!  Roasted garlic is definitely a comfort food in a class all by itself.

The squeezed-out garlic, the skinned peppers and the rinsed contents of a can of garbanzo beans took a five-minute spin in the food processor. It was slow going at first without any liquid.  The added lemon juice didn’t help much.  Chipotles in adobo sauce came to the rescue once again,  and the hummus spun to smooth perfection.

With cucumber, carrot and zucchini sticks for dipping, I munched away contentedly while enjoying a rerun of The Bob Newhart Show.

These are the ingredients I used for this recipe:

2 large red peppers, seeded, cored and cut into wide strips

1 whole head of garlic

Canola cooking spray

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Juice of half a large lemon

1 chipotle

Adobo sauce (enough to aid the food processor in processing)