After visiting New Mexico, I am so tempted to put green chilis in anything and everything.
Case in point—this hummus.
Green Chili Hummus
adapted from Dorie Greenspan
1 can (15.5 oz.) chickpeas
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
1/3 c. tahini
2 T. fresh lemon juice (or to taste)
1 can (4.5 oz.) chopped green chilis
1/2 t. ground cumin
salt and fresh ground pepper
Drain the chickpeas, reserving a bit of the liquid. Rinse.
Place rinsed and drained chickpeas in a food processor along with the garlic, tahini, and lemon juice. Process until smooth.
Add the green chilis and cumin and process. (Add a bit of the reserved liquid if needed). Taste and season with salt and pepper.
May be served at room temperature or can be refrigerated for three days.
Kudos to my sister who actually made this hummus (with my direction) as we prepared for a post Christmas buffet at our house after we returned from NM.
Now, let me tell you what inspired this most excellent hummus:
After we left Las Vegas, NM, we headed straight for Duel, a new brewery that I had researched for The Hubs. This brewery and taproom is in an unassuming industrial park area but wait until you walk inside.
The decor and artwork were great.
We want to paint abstract figures like this up our stair wall.
This is a brewpub with an artist’s heart. (In fact, I believe there are painting lessons here on Sundays.) The artist theme is carried over in their brews: Whistler, Danae (my favorite), Goya, Marcel, etc.
It was almost deserted when we were there. There was one local having lunch and a father and son doing the New Mexican beer trail (following the breweries).
Now, their green chili hummus (the inspiration for this post) was presented a lot more artistically than mine above.
After our appetizers, The Hubs ordered the Waffle Cristo (A baguette stuffed with ham, Swiss cheese, Duel beer mustard, and berry preserve drenched in waffle batter and grilled. Served with Duel syrup for dipping.) I cannot rave enough about that Duel syrup which they make with the leftover wort. I could swig it.
I ordered the Duchamp Salad (Organic mixed greens, chicken breast, Denmark bleu cheese, Mediterranean rosemary olives, roasted red peppers, carrots, and tarragon beer dressing. Served with sliced baguette, and herbed crostini.) I could also swig that tarragon beer dressing.
We sampled the flight and then traveled on to our hotel. Again we stayed at Inn on the Alameda (where we had stayed on our last Christmas trip here).
I love this boutique hotel which is located in the middle of all things Christmas. We were steps (literally) away from the Canyon Road Farolito Walk on Christmas Eve. A few more steps in the opposite direction and we were in the Plaza. Love this place. More about that later.
We only visited one other brewery on this trip, a return visit to Santa Fe Brewing. This is such an eclectic little place.
Check out the planes made from beer cans.
I took no other food photos but I will tell you where we dined:
El Meson
On our first Christmas trip to SF, we just lucked out and got a table in the bar on Christmas Eve. A jazz trio was playing, the specials were delicious and the server was wonderful. This time, I made a reservation for the 23rd. We ended up seated in the dining room…not the same ambiance at all. Our waiter seemed rushed and our tapas were just so-so. (I will have to say the spaghetti squash au gratin was delicious, though.)
El Farol
I made sure that I had reservations here on Christmas Eve. El Farol is at the end of Canyon Road so I knew it would be packed and hard to get into that night. We had 8:00 reservations and were greeted kindly (after the manager realized we did indeed have reservations. He was sending a lot of people packing after what must have been an extremely long service for him). Delicious! The prix fixe menu for the evening included options for steak, veal and seafood. Everything was delicious especially the steak and the churros!
Dinner for Two
This was definitely the best meal of our visit. We dined here on Christmas night and the restaurant also had a prix fixe menu. Let me just say that our dinner was shrouded by some serious outside family drama so we didn’t get to enjoy our meal as much as we could have if our minds were not on our family. I will definitely return. Atmosphere, service and food was excellent! I know that we perplexed our server when we finally just asked for our dessert to be boxed up to go. Dinner for Two is definitely a restaurant where you could leisurely kill a couple of hours and love every minute of it.
I am sure there will be at least one more post of Christmas Eve photos on Canyon Road.
Hope you had a festive and safe New Year’s Eve and best wishes for 2015!