Sasha's Kitchen: Homemade Pickles, White House Style

I think it's wonderful that there is a kitchen garden at the White House that is committed to organic produce. I live in Brooklyn, and don't have my own garden, but my political leanings and passion for food keep me as an avid reader of the Obama Foodarama blog.  I am also a big fan of Bill Yosses, the acclaimed White House pastry chef, so I was excited to read his recipe for pickling vegetables from the White House kitchen garden. What fun! I modified this recipe to try my own recipe for making picked cucumbers (rather than other vegetables) for a more traditional pickle. They were great, especially for a first try! I was never a fan of pickles at all growing up - in fact I didn't start eating them until last year, but my husband, a longtime pickle fan, was quite impressed.

Sasha's Homemade Pickles (based on Bill Yosses' White House Recipe for pickled vegetables)
4 cups of water
2 cups white wine vinegar
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup sugar
12 stems thyme
12 stems rosemary
1/2 to 1 tsp of red pepper flakes
1 clove of garlic, whole
one purple onion, cut into slices
10 farmers' market or homegrown kirby cucumbers, cut into pieces

To prepare the pickles, combine the water, vinegar, herbs, garlic, onion, sugar and salt to a large pot. Bring to a boil.  Remove from the heat, and add the kirby cucumbers to the pot. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hrs.

To can the pickles - use conventional sized Mason jars. They need to be sterilized. I used half size Mason jars because that's what I found in a pinch at the local hardware store. Sterilize the jars by dipping them with tongs in boiling water for 30 seconds to a minute. Fill the jars with the marinated pickles and solution. Simmer the jars in a pot halfway filled with hot water for about 12 minutes to sterilize the pickles.  Store in a cool, dark place for four weeks to one year.

My friend Amasea who posts on this blog from time to time in Sun Valley, Idaho has her own garden and has her own fabulous recipe for pickles which I hope she'll share in the future.

Sasha's Kitchen: Homemade Pickles, White House Style

Sasha's Kitchen: Osso Buco

For my most recent braised meat dish, I decided to make some osso buco California-style. This is another cookbook review recipe, which I found in Tyler Florence's new cookbook,  which I received as a guest at the ShopRite blog panel welcome dinner (and got my copy signed by Tyler Florence).

Anyhow, this dish is a traditional Osso buco, which also incorporates elements of california cuisine. The idea of topping wine-braied veal with a kumquat-cranberry gremolata is a bit unusual and takes some getting used to. But it is really terrific, and much to my surprise, it was a great complement to the dish.  I confess that I don't really care for kumquats (I don't like eating the skin, which is how you eat a kumquat), so I substituted clementines.  Thus, with my various adaptions, below is the recipe that I used to create this California-style osso buco.

Tyler Florence's California Osso Buco with Tangerine Cranberry Gremolata (adapted by Sasha)
1 cup flour
4 2 inch pieces of veal shank
extra virgin olive oil (I omitted using any butter with this dish)
1 onion, diced
2 celery stalks (diced)
zest of one lemon
6 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 bottle California Zinfandel (or Brunello, Cabernet Sauvignon)
2 cups low sodium beef broth
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes

Gremolata
1/4 cups pine nuts
1 cup clementine or tangerine slices
1/4 cup dried cranberries
2 T chopped parsley

Coat the veal with flour and season with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a Dutch Oven, and add the veal shanks, searing on all sides. Set veal aside.

In the same pot, add the carrots, celery, onions, garlic, bay leaves, lemon zest and parsley. Cook for about 15 minutes. Then, nestle the veal shanks back into the pot and add the bottle of wine. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, until the wine reduces by half.  Add the beef broth and the tomatoes. Cover the Dutch Oven and transfer into an oven heated to 375. Cook for 1.5 hours, then uncover the pot and cook for another half hour. The braised veal should be very tender, and fall off the bones.

To make the gremolata, toast and puree the pine nuts in a food processor. Fold in the clementines, garlic, cranberries and parsley.  Serve on top of the braised osso buco, in a bowl.

Sasha's Kitchen: Osso Buco

Sasha's Kitchen: Carrot Cake (Kosher Cookbook Review)

I have been meaning to make a carrot cake for some time. So when I received a copy of Paula Shoyer's The Kosher Baker from the publisher for review on A Kitchen In Brooklyn, and saw a delicious and healthy recipe for carrot cake, I new it was time. Although I am Jewish, I don't keep strictly Kosher. But I certainly do appreciate Kosher cooking and baking. Plus, one of the best aspects of this book is also how healthy the recipes are. Because they are all intended to be parve (non-dairy), none of them us any butter, which makes for some healthier baking. I confess that my carrot cake is not fully non-dairy because I used low-fat cream cheese in the frosting (as I was unable to locate the non-dairy cream cheese that the book recommended). The recipe was so good that maybe I will try that next time using Tofutti or something.

Carrot cake is great for the fall - fresh carrots and all that cinnamon make for a lovely, fall spiced dessert. The book recommends making two cakes, trimming them, slicing them in half and making a four layer carrot cake. I confess that even though I bake extensively, I am not skilled at cake trimming. I always mean to try it out, but in the end, every time, I just make two cakes and it tastes the same anyhow. So, my adaption of the recipe from the book is for two separate carrot cakes. But if you're in the mood, feel free to trim them into a layer cake!

Paula Shoyer's Kosher Carrot Cake
Cake(s)
PAM spray
4 large egfs
1 cup sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup canola oil
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tsps vanilla exract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsps ground cinnimon
3 cups peeled and thinly grated carrots

Cinnamon Honey Cream Cheese Frosting
12 oz parve cream cheese (I used regular low-fat cream cheese this time)
1 1/2 tsps vanilla extract
2 1/4 tsps ground cinnamon
3 T of hney
7 cups of confectioner's sugar (I always cut down this ingredient in frosting so I used 4 cups and it was still great!)
1 1/2 T soy milk

To make this recipe, first preheat the oven to 350. Grease 2 8 or 9 inch round pans with PAM spray. In your mixer (or in a bowl using an egg beater), beat the eggs and sugars for a few minutes until thickened. Add the oil, orange juice and vanilla and mix on low speed to combine.

In a separate bowl, combine the flours, salt, baking powder and cinnamon. Add half of the dry ingredients to the bowl with the eggs and sugar and mix on low speed gently to combine. Then, do the same with the rest of the dry ingredients. 

Grate and measure the carrots into  small threads and add to the batter, mixing well.  Divide the batter between the two prepared pans. Bake for about 40 minutes until a skewer or toothpick inserted into the cakes comes out clean. Personally, I think it is probably best to bake the cakes one at a time in the oven.

Allow the cakes to cool completely. If you are going to trim the cakes and slice in half to make a four layer cake, now would be the time! if you are not going to trim the cakes like this, you may need less frosting, so it would likely be okay to cut the frosting recipe in half (if you are making two separate cakes  like I did).

To make the frosting, beat the cream cheese, vanilla, cinnamon and honey well to combine. Add in about 4 cups of confectioner's sugar and beat until it forms a frosting (much the same was as cupcake icing). The book also makes a good point - wrap plastic wrap around the top of the mixer when you do this so you do not get sprayed in a white snowfall of confectioner's sugar! Add the soy milk and beat for 30 seconds until the frosting looks creamy. 

Last, frost the cakes accordingly - either in layers or separately. If you are trimming, you will want to trim the sides of the cake as well. I simply frosted two separate cakes using a spatula.

This cake tasted great - the cake was delicious with the cinnamon and carrots, and nice and moist! And the frosting was sweet, cinnamony and delicious! I will certainly be trying more healthy, Kosher recipes from this great cookbook soon, so stay tuned!

Sasha's Kitchen: Carrot Cake (Kosher Cookbook Review)

Sasha's Kitchen: Parsnip Apple Fall Soup (and an upcoming product review)

CSN Stores has offered a product for review through their site, which offers a world of great products, from cookware like Le Creuset to barstools and I look forward to reviewing a product from their store. I have been using a very old ice cream maker for many years (truly old school) and I look forward to reviewing a new, updated and automatic ice cream maker from CSN Stores.  I can't wait to try it out to make some fall pumpkin spiced ice cream.

Pumpkin soup is one of my favorite fall soups. Last year, I made two delicious pumpkin soups - a pumpkin cashew soup and a pumpkin pear soup.  Nothing is better in the fall then a delicious root vegetable soup. Although I plan to get back into the pumpkin soup groove soon, this time I decided to try making a soup with one of my favorite root vegetables - parsnips. What better combination than with fresh New York fall apples? I was inspired to create my own parsnip-apple soup by the recipe for parsnip-apple soup in Tyler Florence's new cookbook. However, my recipe is totally different. Tyler adds oysters and bacon which are totally not needed in my vegetarian rendition. I found the paprika to be a great complement as well, and I much preferred the crisp tartness of honeycrisp apples - my all time favorite apple. The result is slightly, but not overwhelmingly sweet - it is a natural sweetness from the apples, as I did not add any sugar. It also has that wonderful fall crispness. This was a real treat and a soup I will surely make again. Be sure to use farmer's market fresh apples and parsnips. This soup is all about your starting material so it is imperative to use the best local produce!

Sasha's Parsnip-Apple Soup
2 1/2 lbs of parsnips
2 large honeycrisp apples (use three if the apples are small)
2 large granny smith apples
2 cups of heavy cream
2 quarts of low sodium chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
paprika to taste
parsley to garnish
4 T olive oil
1 onion, diced

First, put 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pot with the peeled and chopped parsnips and the diced onion. Cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes until the parsnips are softened.  Add the peeled and chopped apples and cook over medium heat for another ten minutes. You may need to add the rest of the  olive oil at this point.  Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Then add the heavy cream and cook over medium heat until the parsnips and apples are full cooked.  Allow to cool for about 10 minutes before pureeing in batches in the blender. Season with salt, pepper and paprika, and garnish with a bit of parsley.

Sasha's Kitchen: Parsnip Apple Fall Soup (and an upcoming product review)

Sasha's Kitchen: Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Maple Buttercream

I've been waiting to make pumpkin whoopie pies ever since I picked up my copy of Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell's Whoopie Pies. Like summer, fall is such a great time for cooking and baking but in totally different ways. My two favorite ingredients for fall are New York State apples and pumpkins. I make a mean oatmeal-pumpkin chocolate chip cookie that I can't wait to share with you, and tomorrow night I am trying out a new apple parsnip soup using some of those famous New York fall apples.  But tonight is all about the whoopie pies that I made yesterday which feature two ingredients that go so well - pumpkins and Vermont maple syrup that I bought over the summer when we were in Vermont.  The combination was spot-on, and just ad good as all of the other Whoopie Pie recipes that I tried from the book. I improvised a bit on the frosting, and it was still delicious, just a bit more maple-flavored than the original recipe called for.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies With Maple Buttercream (from Whoopie Pies)
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 (1 stick) cup of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Maple Buttercream
1 stick of unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
3 tablespoons of heavy cream
2 tablespoons Vermont maple syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

To prepare the whoopies, combine the fry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Beat the butter and brown sugar for a few minutes on medium high using a stand mixer. Add the pumpkin, then the egg, beating well. Add the vanilla and beat until combined.   Add the flour mixture until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl.

Preheat the oven to 350. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a tablespoon, drop one heaping tablespoon for each whoopie, a couple inches apart. Bake each sheet, one at a time, for about 15 minutes.  Allow to cool completely.

Beat the ingredients for the maple buttercream on high speed with the stand mixer.  Place a large dollop of the buttercream between two whoopie cookies to make the whoopie pie.

These whoopies were delicious and perfect for fall. They had just the right combination of pumpkin and spices, while the maple was a stellar combination. If you want an even stronger maple flavor, you can use some maple extract.

Sasha's Kitchen: Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Maple Buttercream

Sasha's Kitchen: Asparagus Truffle Risotto

I've been making a lot of risotto recently, so when I received ShopRite's private label risotto in my recent shipment of products to try from ShopRite as a member of their new blog panel, I was ready. I love the combination of a bit of truffle oil in my risotto, so I decided to combine with some fresh asparagus. You can use just about any vegetable in risotto. If i did this again, I might even add a bit of sweet corn, as well. I used La Tournagelle Infused Black truffle oil, which is a bit expensive, but a little goes a long way. It's certainly less pricy than buying actual truffles, that's for sure. I was impressed with the high quality of the ShopRite arborio rice in the private label risotto. It had just the right consistency for a perfect risotto.

Sasha's Truffle-Asparagus Risotto
2 cups of arborio risotto rice
4 T of olive oil (I used the ShopRite private label olive oil, once again)
3 cloves of fresh garlic
1 onion, diced
1 bunch of fresh asparagus, chopped, ends discarded
4 sprigs of thyme
1 cup of white cooking wine
4 cups of low sodium chicken broth
1 T of truffle oil
1/3 of a cup of grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

To prepare the risotto, saute the asparagus, onion, diced garlic and thyme for about 5 minutes over medium heat, using two tablespoons of the olive oil. In another saute pan, add the arborio risotto rice to the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and coat well.  Add the white wine and cook over medium high hear for a few minutes.  Add the asparagus/onion mix and the truffle oil. Then add the chicken stock, one cup at a time, and continue heating over medium high heat, allowing the liquid to reduce. When each cup is reduced, then add the next cup of the chicken stock. Once all of the chicken stock is reduced, the risotto should look expanded and cooked al dente. Then stir in the grated parmesan cheese. Delicious!

Sasha's Kitchen: Asparagus Truffle Risotto

Sasha's Kitchen: ShopRite, NYC Food & Wine Festival and Tyler Florence

I'm very excited that I am going to be part of the ShopRite blog panel. It is such a great opportunity that my blog was chosen and I look forward to tasting, cooking with and reviewing many new private label ShopRite products. This weekend, I had a great dinner meeting the other panelists at Abe & Arthurs in the meat packing district for dinner. Brad and I also had a great time on Saturday tasting all of the samplings at the NYC Food & Wine Festival that ShopRite co-sponsored.

At dinner with the ShopRite folks, we got to meet Tyler Florence from the Food Network, who signed copies of his new book. Below the photographs, I included some videos that I took (or Brad took) using the FlipCam handheld video cam that the ShopRite folks gave each of the bloggers. I hope to get better at using it so I can take some videos of cooking as well.  Another note - the whiskey sour pickles from Brooklyn Brine were amazing and can be ordered online (I plan to do so right away).

Sasha's Kitchen: ShopRite, NYC Food & Wine Festival and Tyler Florence

Sasha's Kitchen: Sports-Themed Orange Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

The Yankees are back in the playoffs to defend their world championship, so I decided it was time for some sports-themed cupcakes. I made a batch of orange chocolate chip cupcakes, one of my favorite flavors and decided to decorate half of them as baseballs and basketballs (with a Yankees cupcake thrown in for good measure). The other half of the cupcakes were decorated with a Harry Potter theme, and will be the subject of a future post. To decorate the cupcakes, I used white sprinkles and orange nonpareils from New York Cake, my favorite baking supply store that were leftover from my previous adventure making sushi cupcakes.  Then, I added the lines using sparkly Wilton icings.

I am partial to the baseball, since that is my favorite sport and I was quite happy with how that one came out. But the non-pareils really created the perfect texture for the basketball.

Sasha's Orange Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
makes 15 cupcakes
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 eggs
grated zest of one large orange
1 1/2 cups of skim milk
2/3 of a cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Buttercream Frosting
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
3 cups confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

To prepare the cupcakes, combine the salt, baking powder and flour in a bowl and set aside. Beat the butter and the sugar in your stand mixer on medium-high speed until smooth, for about three minutes. Add the eggs and orange zest and beat to combine. Then alternatively add the milk and the dry ingredients and mix in the mixer until smooth. Place the chocolate chips in a bowl and add a teaspoon of flour to coat the chips (this keeps them suspended in the cupcake mixture so they don't sink to the bottom). Sitr in the chips gently.

Divide into a silicon cupcake tray, using a tablespoon (first put in cupcake liners), filling each about 3/4 full. Bake in an oven preheated to 350 for about 25 minutes, until done (test with a toothpick).

Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting. To make the frosting, beat the butter and confectioner's sugar until smooth for several minutes on high speed in your mixer.

Sasha's Kitchen: Sports-Themed Orange Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Sasha's Kitchen: Cherry Tomato-Thyme Risotto

Risotto is one of my favorite foods, and there are so many ways to prepare delicious risotto, from mushroom risottos to Belgian style mussels risottos. A good risotto is also a great way to showcase high-quality food products from good olive oil to delicious cheese to quality fish and vegetables. I was inspired to create a new tomato-risotto using some of the products I received in my package from Shop-Rite as part of the soon-to-launch Shop-Rite blog panel. For this new recipe, I tested out two private-label Shop-Rite products, Shop-Rite's imported extra-virgin Olive Oil and whole cherry tomatoes. The products were top-notch. The olive oil was smooth and delicious - top notch Italian extra-virgin olive oil. I was also really impressed with the quality of the cherry tomatoes. They were juicy and delicious and worked just perfectly in the risotto. They were  the perfect choice for making a delicious tomato risotto with bursts of fresh tomato flavor and just the right size (bite-size) for risotto. They truly were the star of the dish!

I am a big fan of thyme and tomato as a food combination so I used plenty of thyme in this recipe. I also decided that some pine nuts (pignolia nuts) would complement the flavors of the tomato and the thyme well.

Sasha's Cherry Tomato-Thyme Risotto

1 onion, diced

2 tsp diced garlic

4 T Shop-Rite private label Extra-Virgin Olive Oil

8-10 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 1/2 cups of Arborio risotto rice

2 T of tomato paste

1 cup white cooking wine

4 cups of sodium-free chicken broth

2/3 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined (or leave this out to make a vegetarian tomato risotto)

1 can of Shop-Rite cherry tomatoes

3 T of pine nuts

1/2 cups of grated parmesan cheese

First, combine the onion, garlic and two tablespoons of the extra virgin olive oil in a saute pan and cook over medium heat until the onions have softened. Add the thyme as well. Next, add the risotto and another two tablespoons of olive oil and mix to coat the risotto with the olive oil.  After another minute or so, add the white cooking wine, cherry tomatoes and tomato paste to the pan. Cook for about five minutes over medium-high heat before adding the chicken broth. You don't want to add the chicken broth until the wine has reduced by half. Then, add the first cup of the chicken stock.  As my husband, Brad explained in a previous post, add the chicken stock one cup at a time (and not all at once). Allow the first cup of chicken stock to reduce by half before adding the second cup, and so on. This allows you to make sure that there is always some chicken stock mixed in with the other ingredients and keeps the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan. The entire adding, reducing and stirring process should take about 20-25 minutes. When you add the last cup of stock, allow it to reduce completely. Then stir in the pine nuts and grated parmesan cheese.  I also added the shrimp at this point, which I cooked separately in a pan using the Shop-Rite extra virgin olive oil.  This was delicious, but if you prefer a vegetarian dish, feel free to leave them out - the cherry tomatoes can completely carry this dish!  The risotto tasted great, and is such a pretty color too!

Sasha's Kitchen: Cherry Tomato-Thyme Risotto

Sasha's Kitchen: Raspberry Linzer Cookies

Linzer cookies have long been my favorite European cookies. The have their origin in the Austrian Linzer Torte, which is traditionally made with flour ground nuts and spices into a tore filled with currant jam and topped with a lattice. I've always loved the American-style linzer cookie variation, using a similar pastry, often cut into heart shapes, filled with raspberry jam.

My blog is going to be featured on the upcoming ShopRite blog panel, and I received an introductory basket of goodies from ShopRite that got my creative cooking juices flowing. One of the items in the shipment was a jar of ShopRite raspberry preserves, made with fresh raspberries. I decided to sample the jam by making my own linzer cookies, using a set of heart shaped cookie cutters that I borrowed from a coworker.

The recipe for these cookies is adapted from a recipe that I found online from Joy of Baking. The main modification that I made to this recipe is that I used Bob's Red Mill blanched almond meal rather than grinding my own almonds. In addition, I didn't remember to dust the cookies with confectioner's sugar, but you can go ahead and do that if you like.

Cookies were delicious and lived up to expectations. Seconds after the last cookie was complete, my husband game running into the kitchen, eager to try one! The quality of the jam from ShopRite was also great - fresh and delicious!

Linzer Cookies (adapted from Joy of Baking)
1 cup almond meal
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large egg yolks
zest of one lemon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup Shop-Rite raspberry preserves
confectioner's sugar for dusting (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350. Whisk together the almond meal, flour, cinnamon and salt. In the basin of your stand mixer, beat the butter and granulated sugar for about three minutes, until smooth and combined. Beat in the vanilla extract, egg yolks and lemon zest. Add the flour mixture and beat until just incorporated into a dough. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 1/2 hours (and up to three days). If you don't refrigerate first, the dough will stick to the surface when you roll it out.

Roll out the dough. Cut into cookies using a medium sized heart shape cookie cutter. In half of the hearts, cut out a smaller heart using one of the smaller sized heart shaped cookie cutters. Bake each tray (bake one at a time) for 12 minutes until just lightly browned.  Allow the cookies to cool completely.

Dust with confectioner's sugar. Place a heaping teaspoon of raspberry jam on the solid hearts (without the smaller hearts cut out in the middle). Top with the cut out heart cookie to form a sandwich. If you use the confectioner's sugar, sandwich carefully so not the disturb the sugar.

Sasha's Kitchen: Raspberry Linzer Cookies

Sasha's Kitchen: Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

I love hummus, one of my favorite Israeli foods.  Eating hummus always takes me back to the summer I spent in Israel. It's not really necessary to make your own as you can get delicious hummus at pretty much any grocery store. But I figured I'd give it a try since it's not very hard. I also figured it would be a great way to use my new Strawberry Casserole Dish from Le Creuset that I got in a promotion from CSN Stores. I love Le Creuset for the colors and quality of the cookware and this strawberry dish is perfect for serving delicious dips and sauces.

For my first time preparing hummus, I decided to make a roasted red pepper flavored hummus, which was quite delicious. It's very simple to make as long as you remember to soak the chickpeas overnight. The rest is done using your blender. This probably isn't the most authentic Israeli version but it has the consistency and flavors right. It would likely taste delicious with homemade falafel, as well.

Sasha's Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

8 oz chickpeas (soaked in water for at least 12 hours)

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp chile powder

1/3 to 1/2 cup olive oil

1/3 cup tahini

1 tsp diced garlic

3 roasted red peppers

1 T chopped cilantro

salt and pepper to taste

Combine all of the ingredients in a blender, except for the olive oil. Blend until combined. Blend, adding the olive oil (between 1/3 and 1/2 of a cup total) until the hummus is smooth and has the right consistency. Serve as a dip with vegetables or with falafel and pita.

Sasha's Kitchen: Roasted Red Pepper Hummus