Cherub, 3 (and a half now! she’ll tell you), was a big helper in the kitchen tonight.  And as a result, she totally nom’ed her dinner.  It didn’t hurt that one of her favorite things to eat is hummus anyway.  We made some homemade tonight since we had leftover chickpeas from last night’s dinner.  I served her hummus with some sumac-dusted salmon topped with a greek yogurt and cucumber sauce and warm flat bread.  Even with the “help” from Cherub, dinner was made and on the table in 30 minutes.  It was a fun evening in Persephone’s Kitchen.  Lots of love.  You could taste it in the food, too.

Cherub’s Hummus

1 leek, white and light green parts thinly sliced

6 cloves of garlic, smashed, peeled and minced

1 small bunch of watercress, tough stems removed

1 1/2 T butter

1 T olive oil

3 c cooked chickpeas (you could use rinsed canned, but it’s easy-peasy to start with dry, just takes a little time)

1 lemon, zest and juice

1/2 c tahini

1 T cumin

Salt, pepper, olive oil

In a small pan of medium low heat, melt butter and heat oil.  Add leek, garlic and cress, soften for about 10 minutes.  In a food processor, add chickpeas, lemon, tahini, cumin, salt, pepper, a good glug of olive oil, and the softened leek mixture.  Puree, adding water in increments until it begins to blend and smooth out.  You’ll probably end up adding about a cup or so, add as much as you need to get the hummus to a good consistency.  Taste for seasoning.  It will need quite a bit of salt, maybe even a bit more than you think.

Serve with pan seared salmon that has been dusted with ground sumac, salt and pepper and drizzled with olive oil.  Throw together a quick sauce of one cucumber (that has been peeled, deseeded and diced), a container of 2% Greek yogurt, a bit of fresh mint, a half a squeeze of the lemon you’d use in the hummus and some salt and pepper.  Warm a bit of pita or flat bread and dig in.

Playlist included Wishes and Stars, by Harper Simon.  So lovely.

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