One last wrap - for now: Green Olive Hummus Wraps

Green Olive Hummus Wraps
Delicious Wraps Copyright 2007

4 10-inch wraps
4 cherry tomatoes, halved I used grape tomatoes
½ cucumber, seeded and quartered
2 oz baby spinach leaves I used Romaine lettuce
7 oz canned chickpeas, drained
1 garlic clove, crushed
4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil I used canola oil
1 tsp tahini
1 tsp lemon juice
2 oz pitted green olives, chopped I used pimiento stuffed olives
A small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, shredded I omitted this
Salt and pepper

To make the hummus place the chickpeas, garlic, olive oil, tahini and lemon juice in a food processor and blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste, transfer to a bowl and mix in the olives and parsley.

Preheat a nonstick skillet or broiler pan until almost smoking , add the wraps, 1 at a time, and cook for 10 seconds on each side. This will add some color and soften the wraps. I don't find this step necessary.

Spread some hummus over each wrap and divide the tomatoes, cucumber and spinach among them, placing some in the center of each wrap. Fold in the wraps at the ends, roll up, cut in half diagonally and serve.

Makes 4.
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I usually end up fighting the urge to barrel through a cookbook when I've made something really good from it.  I'm not sure why I fight it. One reason is that I have so many cookbooks, I don't want to get stalled on one book.  That might be boring and more importantly, it might make my other cookbooks feel left out and sad.  Another reason is that I try not to delve too much into a single cookbook - I'm trying to promote the cookbook love here, it's not my intention to share all of their contents.

This time, however, I gave into my urges and tried three recipes out of this same book, practically right in a row.  I have no regrets either - this book is three for three.

I love hummus.  I love Spiced Sweet Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, but I've been wanting to try different versions.  This one was fantastic, since I like green olives.  The salty olives really played off the garlic well.    The overall saltiness of the hummus played off the vegetables in the wrap nicely.

For the olive haters (and I know there are many), leave them out or try something else.  Personally I intend to do a lot more experimenting with hummus recipes since once you spring for the tahini (which isn't cheap but it goes a long way), the rest of the ingredients are very reasonable.  Store-bought hummus is rather pricey.

I did make this with the amount of oil called for the first time.  I won't lie - it's great that way, but I don't think you lose too much by replacing some of the oil with the liquid from the chickpeas or water either, which is what I did when I made it again (and again).

I continue my tradition of falling apart during December.  I am not even stressed out but I am not eating well and I haven't been to the gym in over a week.  I'm trying to conserve my cooking energy for baking.  

More wraps: Turkey Wraps with Brie and Cranberry

Turkey Wraps with Brie and Cranberry
Delicious Wraps 2007

4 10-inch wraps
2 ounces cranberry sauce
9 ounces cooked turkey breast, shredded
5 ½ ounces brie, sliced
Salt and pepper

Preheat a nonstick skillet or broiler pan until almost smoking, add the wraps 1 at a time and cook for 10 seconds on each side. This will add some color and soften the wraps. (I don't find this step necessary since the wraps I have were soft enough.)

Spread the cranberry sauce evenly over the wraps and divide the turkey and brie evenly among them, placing some along the center of each wrap. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then fold in the wraps at the ends. Roll up each wrap, cut in half diagonally and serve.

Makes 4.
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Normally I like to mix things up and I would wait a few posts to tell you about another wrap but heck, let's stay on wraps for another post (or two).

This would have been a great recipe to have last week but better late than never. I cheated and used prepackaged turkey, the new thicker 'carved' variety, which wasn't that bad. I had hoped to pick up a turkey after Thanksgiving but the store was wiped out.

This is not way out of the box but it's something simple that I wouldn't think to put together on my own.  I can make this for lunch in the morning very easily, which is a good thing. I know I say I'm going to start planning ahead but that never happens.  Brie is pretty easy to find these days.  I normally don't buy it since the local stores only seem to carry the bigger wedges and I know I could make it disappear very quickly.  However I was in a different store this weekend and I was able to get a smaller piece of brie. 

I love cranberry on sandwiches and these three ingredients go together very well.  I might have to start investing in those bigger wedges.

Question of the Day:  Do you like brie cheese?

Using It Up:Salmon

Salmon and Dill Wraps
Delicious Wraps Copyright 2007

11 oz fresh salmon fillet
1 tsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
4 eggs
2 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tbsp sour cream
¾ oz capers, chopped
Zest of one lemon
A small bunch of fresh dill, chopped I used some dried dill
4 10-inch wraps

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Place the salmon on a nonstick baking sheet. Brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Place in the oven and cook for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. (I nuked my salmon.)

Bring a small saucepan of water to a boil, add the eggs and cook for 9 minutes, then cool under running water for 5 minutes. Shell the eggs and chop them roughly. (I put the eggs in cold water, brought the water to boil, turned it off for 10 minutes, drained and cooled the eggs.)

Flake the salmon into a bowl, removing any skin. Add the eggs, mayonnaise, sour cream, capers, lemon zest and dill.

Preheat a nonstick skillet or broiler pan until almost smoking, add the wraps, 1 at a time, for 10 seconds on each side. This will add some color and soften the wraps. (I skipped this step.)

Divide the salmon mixture evenly among the wraps, placing some in the center of each wrap. Fold in each wrap at the ends, roll up, cut in half diagonally and serve.
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I had some frozen salmon fillets in the freezer for the longest time.  They would not have been there as long had I tried this recipe sooner.  I loved this.  The lemon zest and the dill - yum! 

This book is part of a set of books that I bought at a book sale a while back (my son's daycare received a percentage of the sales).  There's a book on wraps, a book on salads and a book on lunches. I was hoping for lunch inspiration but my problem with lunch is I don't usually plan ahead. I really need to start planning ahead because it's great when I have something really good for lunch (like this). Unfortunately most of my lunches lately haven't been that great.

I did a lot of cooking last week and now I'm afraid I'm going to forget what I made before I get a chance to tell you about it all.  I haven't had much energy for blogging in the evenings.  Oh, I did finally bring the recipe archive up to date.  I was over a year behind!  As of this recipe, I've made 1032 recipes from 346 cookbooks.