I came across a reference to avocado hummus today and immediately was intrigued. Really, avocado hummus? It was a sunny, breezy afternoon, perfect for reading on our shaded veranda, and I decided a platter of veggies with a tangy hummus with a twist would be just the ticket.

Much as I enjoy eating it, I’d never made hummus before, but why not start with a variation on the classic? After looking at a numerous recipes online to get a sense of different ingredient possibilities, I kitchen freestyled this dip, tasting and adjusting as I went.

I started with 2 cups of rinsed chickpeas (a 19-ounce can). Into the blender they went, along with 2 modest cloves of garlic, roughly chopped. To help the blending action, I added 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice and 1/4 cup of my vinaigrette-quality extra virgin olive oil. In a recipe like this it’s important to use the best quality oil you can get your hands on. Once everything was roughly blended, I added two chopped avocados and another 1/4 cup of olive oil, and let the blender have at it again. Tasting as I went, I added just over another tablespoon of the lemon juice, 1/4 tsp salt and about six turns of freshly ground black pepper. After lavishing the silky green concoction into the serving bowl, I drizzled more olive oil on top and added a garnish of ground pepper.

It’s important to add the lemon juice and olive oil in stages, to help ensure the correct flavour and texture.  You can always add more, but getting it out if you’ve put in too much would be quite the challenge. 

While the hummus had the bright tang of lemon and bite of garlic, I made a key mistake by tasting it alone instead of with some of the vegetables I was serving it with. As it turned out, It didn’t have quite enough oomph when eaten with the cruditiés, so next time I’ll add an extra clove of garlic and more lemon juice and pepper.

Today’s batch was ultra smooth; in future I’ll go for more texture as a matter of preference. It’s important to use the right tools for the job. I used my less-than-stellar blender because it was sitting right there on the counter, but I had a hard time controlling the pureeing process. I now wish I’d run down to the basement to fetch the food processor from its cupboard there, as I think it would have delivered a better result.

Planned improvements notwithstanding, I’m looking forward to having the second dish of this hummus tomorrow. Maybe by then I’ll have decided whether to call it guacamus or hummamole. Or maybe I’ll just stick with with avocado hummus and put my engery into eating it.