By Erin Jobe, Market Manager

Ingredients:
2 large beets or 3 medium beets
½ bunch of cilantro
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 heaping tablespoon of tahini
1 25 oz can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas), or 2 15 oz cans
1 teaspoon salt
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
Juice from ½ lemon

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Wash and peel beets and quarter them. Roast for 30-45 minutes at 350 degrees. They should still stay a bit crunchy – don’t overcook. Set beets aside to cool. I like to roast a big batch of beets at one time, then refrigerate to use throughout the next few days in various recipes.

Peel cloves of garlic, then add beets, garlic, tahini and lemon juice to a food processor and blend until everything is finely diced. Drain the chickpeas, saving the juice in a bowl. Add chickpeas, olive oil and salt to the food processor and blend until smooth. At this point you can check the taste and thickness to see what else you need. If it is too thick add a bit of the bean juice to the mixture, and add more salt and olive oil to add flavor. As you add ingredients mix on a low setting or just stir them in.

Wash and pat dry cilantro. De-stem the cilantro and finely chop with a knife. If you want, you can just add the cilantro into the food processor, but I prefer to mix the cilantro into the hummus with a spoon so it does not get pulverized by the food processor. This hummus is delicious eaten right away, but it gets even better after being in the fridge for a few hours. Serve with cucumber slices, tortilla chips, pita or crackers. It also goes great with goat cheese!