Roasted Beet Hummus

CSA box week two consisted of baby beets, swiss chard, kale, onion, cilantro, dill, and garlic scapes. Oh yeah, and LOTS of mixed greens. I'm kind of amazed at how much they can pack into two plastic bags! We'll be eating salad alongside everything else I make this week, that's for sure.

Today, I scoured the web for a recipe that'd be good for baby beets...wasn't really having much luck. I haven't really eaten beets in any memorable way in the past, except this one time at a place called Coopers Tavern on the square in downtown Madison. I ordered their hummus, and what they brought to me was hot pink hummus! Apparently, made with roasted beets. So, I tossed aside the disappointing recipes for beets and figured I'd just roast the things and blitz them together with some garbanzos into a hummus of my own.

Since I've never cooked beets before I sort of learned as you go on prepping these. First of all, beets are really red, and will stain a wooden cutting board. Use a plastic board you don't really care about to do the trimming. Remove the tops and the long lanky root thing at the bottom. Don't bother peeling. Once roasted, the skins will come right off. Roasting is simple...just toss them in a foil packet and roast until softened, maybe forty-five minutes to an hour, depending on how big your beets are.

My baby beets were pretty small, so for this hummus I used about 6-7 beets. Making hummus is pretty easy. I've found that I like my hummus a little runnier, so to get the consistency I like I usually add water at the end. Just taste it as you go, adding more of whatever you need.

Here's my recipe for hummus. Makes approximately 2 cups:
Ingredients:

  • 1 can garbanzo beans, drained & rinsed
  • 6-7 baby beets, roasted, skins removed and roughly diced
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 small clove garlic, smashed
  • 1 Tbsp tahini
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 1/3 cup water
  • Large pinch of salt
  • Feta Cheese (optional) 

Directions:

  1. In food processor, combine garbanzos, beets, lemon juice, garlic, tahini. With processor running, slowly add olive oil into spout. Stop, scrape down sides and restart processor. With processor running, slowly add water and process to desired consistency. Add pinch of salt at the end and season to taste. Top with feta and serve with pita chips, veggies, or crackers.

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