Boiled Peanut Hummus

I just got back from the South tonight and I felt like I should post a Southern-ish recipe. Instead of trying to create something, I decided to make someone else’s recipe. In his cookbook, A New Turn in the South, Hugh Acheson has this boiled peanut hummus recipe that I really love and there’s nothing more Southern than boiled peanuts.

I can easily polish a huge bowl of this stuff by myself and I have to stop myself from licking the bowl. It’s that good.

BTW Hugh is my favorite visitor to the test kitchens (so far) because his visit was a good learning experience for me. I mean, I used to associate Southern food — especially in the Carolinas and Georgia — with soul food and deep fried things pretty strongly. But you know what? I really shouldn’t because Southern food is much more than that.

"Southern food is a celebration of the people within the community, using the agrarian bounty that is constantly around them. It pays homage to the past but is a constantly evolving, ebbing with the seasons and flowing with the constant progression of the South. It is a foodways that really has had a much stronger emphasis on vegetables and sides than huge portions of proteins, and one that is healthy if we show off the diversity of our crops and cooking styles."

-Hugh Acheson (from this essay)

For 1 cup (from Hugh Acheson’s A New Turn in the South):

• 1 c. shelled, boiled peanuts (2 cans*)
• 2 tbsp. tahini (sesame seed paste)
• 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper**
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

You basically food process everything. Or you can read the actual directions over at Bon Appétit.

But really, I just kind of dumped it all in.

I prefer to eat this with fresh veggies and/or corn tortilla chips.

*His recipe uses canned boiled peanuts but you could probably make your own. I would rather use the canned stuff because it’s simple — the problem is, where the hell do you buy it here in the Midwest?! THANK GOD FOR THE INTERNET. (Or you ask your Southern friends to ship it to you.)

**I’m a little more liberal with this — about 1/2 teaspoon — since I like it spicy.