healthy and delicious chips

Cooking teacher extraordinaire, Joanne Weir, is teaching classes at Les Gourmettes this week.

One of her recipes really spoke to me.

Now, we’ve all had hummus with chips. And we’ve all enjoyed hummus with crudités.  But none of that compares to Joanne’s hummus with fresh vegetable chips. It is outstanding!

The vegetable chips are crispy and crunchy like a tortilla or pita chips and they are healthy like crudités.  Oh right, because they ARE crudités, just cut and treated a little “out of the box.”

An added bonus – it is a gorgeous presentation!

Avocado and Roasted Garlic Hummus with Fresh Vegetable Chips

Hummus

• 1/2 cup pure olive oil
• 6 cloves peeled garlic
• 1 can (14 ounces) cooked chickpeas
• 3 to 5 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 1/2 avocados, mashed until smooth
• Kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• Large pinch paprika
• A few sprigs of Italian parsley and paprika for garnish

Fresh Vegetable Chips

• 1 carrot
• 1 parsnip
• 1 turnip
• 1 red beet
• 1 yellow beet
• 1 rutabaga
• 1 sunchoke
• 1 watermelon radish
• 4 radishes

Hummus:  Warm the pure olive oil in a very small saucepan until the oil is rippling. Add the garlic and cook over low heat until the garlic is golden and very soft. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and let cool slightly. Chop and mash to make a paste. Set aside. (save the garlic-infused oil for cooking with)

In a food processor or blender, purée the chickpeas, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, tahini, 1 tablespoon of the extra-virgin olive oil, the garlic paste from above, avocado, salt, cumin, and paprika until it is a soft creamy mixture. Taste and season with additional lemon juice and salt, if needed.

Place in a shallow bowl, make a well in the center, and drizzle with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Sprinkle with a little paprika and add the parsley sprigs to the top.

Fresh Vegetable Chips: Wash all the vegetables well and cut off the ends.  Using a mandolin, cut the vegetables into paper-thin slices.  Place the red beets in their own bowl of ice water and place the other vegetables in another large bowl or two of ice water. Let sit for at least 30 minutes or until crisp.

Drain and blot dry with paper towels, then place all in a large bowl and toss together.

Place the bowl of hummus in the center of a large platter and circle the bowl with the vegetable chips.

Serves a crowd