Sammy likes hommus… and a heap of other things that I probably shouldn’t tell you about.

I don’t know if you guys remember Sammy, but way back at the start of this piece of crap top notch blog Sammy would regularly tell me what was in her larder and I would create a recipe for her din-dins. Well Sammy is back with a double header… and this time she’s brought her mum. That could be a wild assed double header right there but for now I’ll just stick to the questions… for now.

Here’s what Sammy asked:
1. Could you please tell me some other ways to eat hommus? Love hommus but I’m getting sick of crackers.
2. Sammy’s mum (aka. The gelfling mother) is visiting and Sammy wants to cook her dinner. She did come all the way from England after all. Probably got sick of making cups of tea for all those bloody Greeks and their running races. Anyway, dinner. And she would like a nice piece of salmon.

How to tackle this one?

I guess it’s like having a good time with a goat – so many ways to tackle it. Actually there’s probably only one way to tackle it sensibly, and I do believe that’s roughly from behind. A chicken on the other hand… well a chicken is a totally different story.

Or…

There is no way hommus should be reserved for a pack of crackers and a lonely night in watching Sleepless in Seattle (I think that will prove beyond a doubt how out of touch I am with the chick flick rom-com type scene) as you slowly over-season it with your tears…

Hommus is good shit. It deserves better than that.

Firstly, brush some pita bread with oil and sprinkle with za’atar, bake for 15 minutes at 180C or until crisp. Basic hommus consumption for beginners at it’s very finest. Try it on a burger with some za’atar, tomato, red onion and lettuce. Use it to garnish a piece of meat (no. I don’t think we could call it a garnish in that application…) because lets face it, it’s just a chickpea puree, albeit a damn tasty one. Fish and lamb are especially susceptible to the love of a good chickpea. And don’t be afraid to warm it up a little either. Back on the sandwich tip and you could make a nice marinated vege number on warm Turkish with some homemade pesto or red capsicum paste and… you guessed it … hommus! A-maz-ing.

For Sammy’s dinner I have combined the best of both worlds, which is really quite clever. Pat, pat, pat (that is either the sound of me patting myself on the back or the old lady at number 42 calling out to postman pat?).

SALMON DINNER FOR THE GELFLING MOTHER
2 180g-ish pieces of salmon, scaled and pin-boned
Sumac
Lemon wedges
Hommus, recipe down there
Shepherds salad, recipe down there
Flat bread so you can mush everything onto and eat like a bruschetta
• Season your salmon on the skin side (this helps it get extra crisp), and cook it skin side down in an oiled non-stick pan. Once it starts to turn a lovely golden brown whack it in a pre-heated oven 180C for 4-5 minutes
• Take it out, turn the fillet over, rest for a minute and then plate up
• Put a bit of hommus down on the plate, fish on top of that, salad to the side, lemon on the side, sprinkle with sumac, serve flat bread separately

SHEPHERDS SALAD
1 tomato
½ small cucumber, deseed
½ red capsicum
2 red radish
½ red onion
½ cup toasted walnuts
½ long red chilli, deseed
1 handful mint and parsley
1 handful cooked big cous-cous (or quinoa, burghul, freekah… any grain you like)
juice of half a lemon, olive oil and salt and pepper to dress
• Chop everything into evenly sized cubes
• Dress and eat… which is almost the same as your date on Friday night but I do believe that would be “un-dress and eat”.

HOMMUS
2 cups cooked chickpeas
4 cloves garlic
2 Tbls tahini
¼ cup lemon juice
½ cup chopped parsley
¼ cup olive oil
½-1 cup water
• Blitz all except parsley and olive oil, adding a little extra water if needed to make a smooth puree
• Emulsify olive oil into mix
• Season and fold through chopped parsley