BURNT GARLIC HUMMUS

Having something with ‘burnt garlic’ in it doesn’t sound particularly sexy, does it?

Conjures up images of charcoal.

But what I mean by burnt garlic here is a whole cloves of garlic cooked in a low oven so that’s is caramelises into a velvet smooth golden purée.

And it tastes every bit as amazing as it sounds.

There is no shortage of hummus recipes in my life. I have a sweet potato version, a Tunisian version (in my free ebook available here) and a peanut butter version (found here) and this version, while maintaining a similar blueprint to the rest, takes the garlic note to a brand new level.

Preheat the oven to 180c. Take a whole bulb of garlic and slice off the top so it has a flat top and the severest tips of the cloves are visible.

Wrap the bulb in a tightly sealed but slightly baggy foil parcel.

When the oven is hot, fling in the foil parcels and bake the garlic for an hour. Once they’re done, take them out and allow to cool fully before handling.

Side note – I tend to do a few garlic cloves in one go so I have the Caramelised garlic ready whenever I need it. It’s great in soups and mashed potato.

For the hummus, in a food processor combine the following ingredients: a can of drained Chickpeas, the zest and juice of a lemon, a big tablespoon of tahini paste, 50ml of extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and a teaspoon of paprika.

Take the cold garlic bulb and squeeze the now silky caramel coloured garlic into the food processor.

I know it’s tricky to get but if you have Oak Smoked Water, it’s perfect for this recipe. I buy mine from Halen Mon which you can find here.

Now blitz everything to a rubbly, smoky orange hued purée.

Serve with a further sprinkle of paprika and some sesame seeds if you can be arsed. I love this dip with some vegetable crisps but trust when I say, this slathered on any carbohydrate is a win.