Melissa Clark - Food Writer

Kitchen Hip Tip - Fluffy Hummus

I've been perfecting my hummus recipe over the years and little by little, batch by batch, it gets better and better.

The biggest change  was to stop using canned chickpeas and to start cooking dried chickepeas myself, then pureeing them into hummus. Not only do the peas have better flavor, you also get a pot full of amazing, garlicky chickpea broth that you can use for soups, or add to the hummus in place of some of the olive oil.

My latest innovation is minor but I think it makes a pretty big difference, and that is to warm the cooked chickpeas in the microwave before adding them to the food processor. I swear it's made my hummus lighter, fluffier, and completely smooth without any distracting graininess on the tongue.

I discovered this by accident when I cooked the chickpeas on one day to make into hummus the next. I used them cold from the fridge and the resulting hummus was a touch gritty and heavier than usual (still good though but not as light as usual).

Before that, I'd used chickpeas straight from the pot while still warm. And that hummus was better.

So last week, I took 30 seconds to zap the chickpeas before pureeing. The hummus was as velvety as mousse and nearly as light. Using a little of the chickpea broth in place of oil might have helped the cause.

I think this would even work with canned chickpeas. Or at least, it wouldn't hurt.

I'll be posting my hummus recipe this fall as one of the monthly recipes from my upcoming book, Cook This Now (to be released in October). In the meantime, use your favorite hummus recipe but try heating up the peas first. And let me know if you agree with me about the texture.

Check Out My First Video For Gilt Taste: Korean Pork Belly Tacos

This week launches my first video for Gilt Taste (follow this link), to be happily followed by a new video every month. I just love the way it turned out, many thanks to Ithai Schori who directed this so beautifully. And Jennifer Maeng's recipe for Korean Pork Belly Tacos, is amazing (spicy, sweet, chared, complex) and really easy once you have the ingredients - definitely one to try this grilling season.

Reviving the Radish

We all have the best intentions when we go to the farmers' market. Of course we will use up this basket-full of leafy greens, crisp cucumbers, and ruby red radishes before they begin to wilt! We will eat them up tonight! Or tomorrow! Or perhaps the next day...

Well, the road to the compost pile is undoubtedly paved with the best intentions. So if, four or five days out from market day, you are ready to dig in to a Prosciutto, Butter, and Radish Crostini (or maybe this delectable Cucumber Radish Salad from Sassy Radish) but your once gem-like radishes are looking wilty and limp. Even the saddest radish can be revived. And this trick works for other wilted greens and veggies including carots, celery, kale, lettuces, collards, mustard greens, Swiss chard, you name it. If it's leafy and greenish but shriveled and maybe a little past its prime, give this method a go.

All you have to do is submerge the produce in a bowl of cold water and leave it in the fridge (no need to cover) for several hours. Even overnight. As soon as your veggies perk up, they are ready.

Don't believe me? Check out the after pic, below! Almost makes you want to bring a bigger basket to next week's market, doesn't it?

^{Photos by Olga Massov}

Butter Keeper - Why It's the Next Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

Actually, I hate presliced bread. It goes stale so much faster than when you slice your own loaf as you go. But never mind that. I LOVE my butter keeper.

What is a butter keeper? Well, let me tell you because I'm so excited about my new little kitchen accessory that I'm about to burst. A butter keeper is a nifty ceramic, porcelain, or in this case marble dish that holds your butter at a soft, silky, luscious, spreadable texture at all times. You keep it on your counter and it keeps your butter fresh.

Imagine never having to wait for your butter to soften. Imagine toasting a piece of bread and instantly having malleable butter at the ready. Did you picture it? Doesn't it sound amazing? Well, if you get a butter keeper - you can kiss that rock-hard butter goodbye. I have.

I first saw a stoneware butter keeper at Paula Deen's house (she has the most amazing kitchen), and was intrigued by the notion. Then one day I googled it and a slew of choices popped up. Mine was delivered 2 days later and my kitchen hasn't been the same since. All I want to do is butter everything that will stand still long enough but usually I can manage to stick to toast.

Using a butter keeper is easy. Here's what you do: You fill the egg holder-shaped part with about a stick's worth of softened butter, turn the butter-filled piece upside down and insert it into the water-filled base. That's it. That water creates a vacuum seal and prevents the butter from spoiling for supposedly 30 days though it doesn't last more than a week in this butter-loving house.

Maintenance is a cinch too - you fill up the bottom of the butter keeper with a bit of water, which you have to switch out every three days, but I pretty much do it every day - everytime I butter my bread. And that's an awful lot.

A Well-Salted Salad

^{Photo Credit: Olga Massov}

Here's a tip I learned from Peter Berley about a million years ago when I worked on his cookbook, The Modern Vegetarian. When making a dressing, he always adds the salt and other aromatics (i.e. shallot, garlic, ginger, dried herbs, if you happen to be using them) to the acid (lemon juice, vinegar, whatever) before adding the oil. This give the salt a chance to dissolve before being coated in oil. And the acid also helps release the flavors of the aromatics.

This isn't to say that if you put everything in a jar at the same time and shook the heck out of it, you won't get an excellent dressing. But your arm may hurt with all that shaking. Peter's way is fast and easy, and I've used it ever since.