Superbowl snacks

Planning a Superbowl party on Sunday? Here's a great snack that is easy and fit for either Colts or Saints fans. I've made this for many a party and never had to worry about leftovers. Enjoy.

Smokey Chipotle Hummus
2 15 oz cans garbanzo beans, drained
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons tahini
3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2-4 tablespoons olive oil
1-2 tablespoons minced canned chipotle chilies*
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 4-ounce jar sliced pimientos in oil, drained
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
bagel chips or flat bread

Blend garbanzo beans and next 7 ingredients in processor until smooth. For a thinner or more spicy hummus use more oil or chipotle chilies, if desired. Add pimientos; process until pimientos are coarsely chopped. Transfer hummus to a medium bowl. Stir in cilantro. Season hummus to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and chill. Can be made one day in advance. Bring to room temperature before serving. Accompany with bagel chips or flat bread torn in bite-sized pieces.

* To save the leftover canned chipotle chilies puree the remainder and scoop tablespoons on foil-lined cookie sheet and freeze until solid. Peel off the foil and store in zip-lock bag.

Your heart's gonna love this one

Just in time for Heart of the Matter #3 I came up with a very easy, very quick pasta dish. Doodles and I had fallen in love and ordered this dish every time we visited our Mom in Ft Wayne, Indiana. So simple but quite tasty. This fits this month's criteria for a healthy pasta dish. You still have time the deadline is May 22.

Funny thing is, I really hadn't tried to make it but found myself with only a few ingredients and a hungry husband so here is what I came up with.

Pasta with mushrooms

• Cook enough pasta for two people, reserve a bit of cooking water
• Clean and slice very thin about 8 ounces of crimmini mushrooms ( I used the Cuisinart)
• 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• about 8 small fresh basil leaves, chopped
• about 3 tablespoons very good olive oil

Heat the oil in a large skillet, quickly saute the garlic and thyme. Add the cooked spaghetti and stir until coated with the garlic oil and herb. Remove from heat and stir in the mushrooms and basil. If this looks too dry, add a bit of reserved cooking water. Season with salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste and serve with a dusting of Parmesan cheese.

This was very flavorful and would make a great lunch or even a main dish with a nice green salad. Well, it satisfied the hungry husband.

rosemary garlic rack of lamb

a very long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away), princess lea (heeee) tagged us for a cooking meme called inviting all foodbloggers. basically, the meme was, what would you cook for blogging friends the first time you had them over for dinner? i'm sure she thought we'd ignored it. we kind of did. actually, the meme fell victim to one of my more annoying bad habits, which is not starting a project because i can't devote the kind of time to it at that moment that i want to produce an end-result that i'd be happy with. i owe numerous people numerous emails for exactly this same reason. anyway, i kept lea's meme as a new post in my bloglines and have been looking at it for nigh on three months now. i still haven't come up with the dream menu that i would use to wow other bloggers with (sheesh, no pressure), so i'm tweaking the meme a bit in the name of expediency: what would i serve if i knew my blogger foodie friends were descending on my house at that very moment and i had to impress but i had to keep it simple because i didn't have a lot of time? simple. my trusty standby: rosemary garlic rack of lamb.

this rack of lamb is so easy to make, very hard to mess up and it never fails to impress. i got the idea from jamie oliver, who cut holes into a leg of lamb roast and shoved in rosemary twigs and garlic cloves. the rack of lamb, being smaller, needed to have those elements broken down a bit, though, so i chop up the rosemary and press the garlic, then add some salt and olive oil to make a paste...



if you're feeling really adventurous, get out your mortar and pestle and give the ingredients a good mash before adding the olive oil.

then i take a frenched rack of lamb and cut some small holes (the width of my paring knife) down close to the bone side, like this...



and then use a spoon, but mostly my fingers, to stuff in the rosemary garlic paste, like so...



i flip the meat over (fat side up) and put it on a rack in my roasting pan before it goes in the oven and, if i have any rosemary garlic paste leftover, i smear it on top (otherwise, a little bit of olive oil helps with the browning quite nicely)...



into the oven at about 425 degrees (convection roast if you have it, otherwise, brown the outside of the lamb before you pop it in the oven) until internal temperature is about 140. a one pound rack usually only takes about 20 minutes. it comes out nice and crispy on the outside, like this...



after a good 5 - 7 minute rest, slice between the bones et voila...



perfect medium rare. you can see the vein of garlicky, rosemary goodness and believe me, it has flavored the meat throughout. i usually serve this with spinach and potatoes (like jeff's braised potatoes), something simple to keep the focus on the lamb. and of course, lamb like this goes great with with a bold and fruitier red wine, my favorite pairing is cline ancient vines zinfandel.

so, if food blogger friends were bearing down on my house with little or no notice, this would probably be what they would get fed when they arrived! sorry it took so long, lea!

it also occurs to me that this is a good post for kalyn's weekend herb blogging, what with the rosemary and all. whb is being hosted this week by real epicurean. check it out!