This is a recipe that I recently cooked for a tasting at O Panier Local, the cooperative farm store here in Orthez where I work as a volunteer. The idea was to present an easy dish for the Holidays made primarily with local produce from the store. This inspired me to add local butternut squash to my standard hummus recipe and I really liked the result (note that other ingredients sold in the store include chickpeas, garlic, olive oil and pomegranates.
For the tasting, I offered this hummus canape-style, on toasted bread with pomegranate seeds and toasted walnuts. But we like to make it the center of a meal by topping it with marinated lamb cubes sauteed in olive oil.
Chickpea and butternut squash hummus
Ingredients
- 15o grams cooked chickpeas
- 300 grams roasted butternut squash
- 80 grams tahini
- 2 garlic cloves
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp piment d’Espelette
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup chickpea cooking liquid
- About 3/4 cups olive oil
- Ground black pepper
Note
Makes about 4 cups of hummus
Preparation
1) If you are cooking the chickpeas from dry, soak in a lot of water overnight. Drain, add new water to cover by about 1/2 inch, add a bay leaf, cinnamon stick and a clove of garlic. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to very low, cover and continue to cook until the chickpeas are very soft. Cool in their cooking liquid.
2. Cut the butternut in half the long way, put in a baking dish cut sides up. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and black pepper. Roast in a 350 degree oven until very tender. When tender, scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Use your fingers to remove the peel. Measure out the amount of squash needed, save the rest for another use.
3. Measure out the rest of the ingredients. 
4. In the food processor, puree the garlic finely.
5. Add the rest of the ingredients except the olive oil. Puree to a uniform but fairly course mixture. With the food processor running, add olive oil in a slow stream until the hummus is finely mixed and light. Correct the seasoning if necessary with salt, pepper and lemon juice.