Once you move in together, you can't really eat an entire party-size plastic tub of hummus with a swirl of sriracha for dinner by yourself in front of your laptop on the coffee table sitting cross-legged on the floor, with the broken chip dregs in the bottom of the bag of kettle potato chips because that's all you had in the cupboard when you got home because you forgot to buy pita chips in the pride-sucking rush to get through the store so all those other people in front of and behind you in the checkout line buying whole roast chickens and salmon fillets-for-four can't judge you and your haagen-dazs pint, "two" carrots and tub of hummus for the obvious...
Or maybe you can.
When we started dating, I graduated from single-girl store-bought plastic tub to honeymoon dating phase homemade hummus. That's what you do, you know. You shower every morning. You wear full-face makeup during the day. You cook dinner that has all five food groups over three courses while wearing an actual, cute outfit.
You make hummus from scratch with garbanzo beans that you soaked and cooked yourself.
The honeymoon, however, doesn't last forever. In fact, I think it normally lasts for about nine months, less if you move in together within six.
And two years and five months later on a Tuesday night after you've asked each other 18 times each "What do you want to do for dinner?" hoping the other will offer to throw together a farmers market's worth of fresh produce for a salad, roll out pasta by hand and roast a free-range chicken to no avail, the two of you will actually find yourselves in yesterday's pajamas and board shorts, hunched over the kitchen island across from each other at 10 PM, taking turns scooping hummus from a plastic tub with the only things you had in the fridge, leftover radishes and love.
Eventually you two will find your way. He'll take you somewhere you've never been for date night. You'll re-discover that cookbook, the one that you both raved about on your second date.
And even if you do eat hummus for dinner, it'll be out of a bowl.
With a fork.
Wearing cute new undies.
Quinoa with Chickpeas, Parsley, Almonds and Tahini Lemon Vinaigrette {recipe}
These are all the ingredients that go into making hummus from scratch. Garlic, tahini, lemon juice, parsley, and of course, chickpeas. Kept whole rather than pureed together in food processor, and tossed with quinoa, this makes eating hummus for dinner not as "just eating hummus for dinner"-y.
The quinoa is awesome, but it is the Tahini Lemon Vinaigrette that is the greatest thing I've discovered this summer. Tahini Lemon Vinaigrette (along with a few other tahini based dishes) finally makes it okay to buy that whole jar of tahini that seemed way too expensive when you only needed two tablespoons for the one batch of homemade hummus you ever make.
serves 4
Ingredients
For Tahini Lemon Vinaigrette
1 clove garlic, very finely minced, to a paste if possible
2 tablespoons tahini
juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons water, plus more to thin to desired consistency
salt and pepper to taste
For Quinoa
2 cups cooked quinoa
1-2 cups cooked garbanzo beans (1 can of garbanzos is perfect)
4 handfuls flat-leaf parsley leaves
4 handfuls arugula
handful sliced almonds
Tahini Lemon Vinaigrette
additional salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Make Tahini Lemon Vinaigrette
In a small bowl, whisk together the tahini and lemon juice. The mixture will thicken. Stir in minced garlic and 2 tablespoons water to start. Add more water to thin the vinaigrette to your preferred consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Make Quinoa
Toss the cooked quinoa, garbanzo beans, parsley leaves, arugula, and almonds in a large bowl. Drizzle with about half of the Tahini Lemon Vinaigrette and toss. Taste, and add more vinaigrette, salt and/or pepper if needed.
figeater says
I was the single girl behind you with the rotisserie chicken, a half gallon ice cream, blood orange soda and schoolboy cookies by LU. Now, I share a bag of dry broken shin ramen mixed with seasoning packet w/ my mister and he always hogs the bag and eats more than his fair share and then I think my dear god i miss gelson's and why the hell are we wearing rags? Is this a Les Miserables casting call? Nope but that's life.
Diane, A Broad says
Yep, I've been through the hummus-from-scratch phase... then I realized that my gentleman prefers the store-bought stuff. Sigh.
Question: do you know how long cooked quinoa lasts in the fridge? I made this huge batch on Monday and there's a ton of it left, and I think it's fine, but...