By Hairee Lee

The brilliant color and just-as-bold flavor of this appetizer will dazzle your eyes and tongue. Pair it with fresh carrot or cucumber chips for added color and freshness. Laura kept hers a lot more interesting (albeit a little less healthy) by adding the multi-colored root chips.

Beet Hummus
Serves 8 or more

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound beets (about 4 medium sized beets), scrubbed clean, cooked, peeled, and cubed¹
• 2 tablespoon tahini sesame seed paste
• 5 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 small clove garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest (zest from approx. 2 lemons)
• Generous pinch of sea salt or Kosher salt
• 3 carrots sliced diagonally, 1/8 inch thick
• 1 bag of multi-root vegetable chips for color and flavor
• Fresh ground pepper to taste

Directions

1. Place all ingredients in a food processor (or blender) and pulse until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings and ingredients as desired.
2. Makes 2 cups.
3. Serve with multi-root chips, pita chips, or with sliced carrots, cucumber or celery, or on a crostini with goat cheese and shaved mint. We served ours all on the Heath Ceramics Plaza large serving platter in aqua.
4. Chill and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or freeze for longer storage.

Recipe adapted from Simply Recipes.

Photographs by Nate Brescia.

1. To cook the beets, cut off any tops, scrub the roots clean, put them in a covered dish with about 1/4-inch of water in a 375°F oven, and cook until easily penetrated with a knife or fork. Alternatively, cover with water in a saucepan and simmer until tender, about 1/2 hour. Peel once they have cooled. [↩]