With a little extra time on your hands, why not treat yourself to some artistic culinary expression? We miss the beautiful presentation of in-restaurant dining, so we decided to bring some of that home.
We asked Ellen Van Dusen of Dusen Dusen to prepare a lunch with equal thought for presentation as taste. If you're not yet familiar, Dusen Dusen is a collection of bold, happy, colorful home products (that's her napkin and plate in the above photo!)
Interview with Ellen
Why DIY hummus?I started making hummus since the shutdown began, and now I like to have it on hand at all times. It's so easy, and being able to tailor it to your interests makes it so much better than grocery bought. I, for example, am a big garlic head. I go heavy on the garlic. I sometimes throw in some cilantro or basil, or a roasted tomato if I'm feeling funky. Having good olive oil makes the hummus 10000x better!
On why this is her lunch of choice:I love to be able to snack throughout the day and call it lunch, and this plate achieves exactly that. I take a piece of bread, come back, take a carrot, come back, grab a cucumber and the cycle continues.
On food presentation:Presentation is always important to me. Food is more appealing if it looks good. This plate was a collaboration with my BFF, Helen Levi. I like to have a healthy mix of colors on a plate of food — for aesthetic reasons, and also because I hear it's healthy.
Ingredients
- Juice of 1 big lemon
- 1/4 cup tahini
- 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- red pepper flakes (to taste)
- salt (to taste)
- 3 tablespoons water
- 3 Tbsp of Brightland AWAKE olive oil
Instructions
- 1 Put everything except the water into a food processor.
- 2 Press go and watch it blend!
- 3 After a minute or so, add water while blending for desired creaminess.
