Warm Hummus with Spiced Lamb
This was a bang-up year for cookbooks. Although my editor isn’t thrilled, I am glad that I didn’t have a book come out this fall with all the other great books that have crossed my path. Because it’s nice to be able to spend some time cooking and baking through them. (While I work on edits for mine, coming out next year. If I finish it…) One cookbook that I didn’t know much about was Soframiz, which I saw in my publisher’s catalog. They just happened to be sending me a copy of someone else’s book, so I asked them to include a copy of that one too.
During my first look through the book, I found it had an unusually high interest-to-cooking ratio for me. The women who wrote the book have a bakery and café, Sofra, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Being somewhat out-of-touch with many of the restaurants and bakeries that have opened in the States, everyone that I recommended the book to, said the same thing: “Oooh, that’s one of my favorite places!”
So until I get there, I’m happy to have their book, with recipes inspired by the cooking and baking of Lebanon, Turkey and Greece. I’m also a big fan of the foods and flavors from those countries, and the ones that surround them, which the authors (and chefs) – Ana Sortun and Maura Kilpatrick – feature so well. I bookmarked a bunch of recipes, including Simit, twisted circles of sesame-crusted bread rings dabbed with pomegranate molasses before baking, flaky cheese-filled Borek (pie) topped with nigella seeds, and caramel-like Sesame cashew bars, which they say are the best-seller at their bakery.
The are few recipes in the chapter of Middle Eastern flatbreads in Soframiz also got bookmarked, but I was most intrigued by the Warm Hummus with Spiced Lamb. I was introduced to Turkish-style hummus at Zahav, where it came to our table in a little skillet, warm and slightly charred on top…and it was absolutely sensational.
I had warm hummus again at Taci’s Beyti, a Turkish restaurant in Brooklyn, where it’s served topped with pastirma, the Turkish version of pastrami. People associate pastrami with New York or Eastern Europe, but there’s a tradition of making and eating it in Turkey, too. Which makes me think I should take that long-overdue trip back to Turkey someday. (Although my editor would probably physically go there, and drag me back.)
Unlike other kinds of hummus, this one doesn’t have tahini (or garlic) in it. I know…right? I always though hummus had to have both. Kind of like most of us, myself included, didn’t realize pastrami had Turkish roots.
Although meat may sound funny to you with hummus, since it’s often sold as a vegetarian dish, the combination with the juicy spiced lamb, moistened with tomatoes and a dab of hot sauce, makes a great lunch or dinner scooped up with pita or flatbread. It would make a wonderful part of a Middle Eastern feast, should you be so inclined, perhaps with Labneh, a big bowl of Tabbouleh, and pickled turnips.
Warm Hummus with Spiced Lamb
For the hummus
- 2 cups (340g) warm chickpeas, drained, liquid reserved
- 3 to 4 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 tablespoons butter, salted or unsalted, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
For the spiced lamb
- 8 ounces (225g) ground lamb
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup (110g) canned chopped tomatoes, with liquid
- 1/4 cup (60ml) chickpea cooking liquid
- 4 scallions, chopped , (white and green parts)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons harissa
- a squeeze of fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
For the hummus
- Puree chickpeas with 3 teaspoons of the lemon juice, salt, and cumin in a food processor or blender. Mix in the soft butter and olive oil.
- While the machine is running, slowly drizzle in a scant 1/2 cup (125ml) of the chickpea liquid and puree very well, until the hummus is as smooth as possible. If necessary, add more liquid, a tablespoon at a time, until the hummus is the consistency of sour cream. (I ended up adding 2/3 cup but yours may take more or less.) Taste and adjust, adding another teaspoon of lemon juice or salt, if desired.
For the spiced lamb
- Heat the 1 tablespoon of oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the lamb, season with the salt, and cook it, breaking it up as it cooks, until it's almost cooked through, about 4 minutes.
- Add the allspice, black pepper, cinnamon, tomatoes and 1/4 cup (60ml) chickpea liquid. Cook until the liquids are slightly thickened, about 3 minutes.
- Stir in the scallions and harissa and cook for another couple of minutes, until the liquid is reduced (but the meat is still very juicy) then remove from heat and add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Mix in the flat-leaf parsley.
Notes
Related Recipes
Muhammara (Anissa Helou)
Fattoush (Kalyn’s Kitchen)
Harissa (Wednesday Chef)
