Turkish Hummus

I ripped off this dish from my friend Ana Sortun, the great chef of Oleana restaurant in Cambridge, and it has become one of the most popular variations we prepare at Zahav. As the name indicates, it’s not Israeli, and it involves butter. We blend melted butter (in place of the tehina) with chickpeas and roasted garlic and then bake the hummus in a cast iron dish. When it comes out of the oven, we douse it with some great Israeli olive oil and sprinkle on a bit of ground Urfa pepper—a smoky and fruity Turkish variety (see sidebar)—and serve it warm.

● Cut the top off a head of garlic, drizzle it with olive oil, and roast it in a 350°F oven until brown and very soft. Squeeze out the roasted garlic into a medium saucepan and add 4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter. Melt the butter slowly with the garlic. Combine the cooked chickpeas from the Hummus Tehina recipe, the butter-garlic mixture, and the juice of 1 lemon in a food processor and puree until smooth. Salt well. Transfer to an ovenproof dish and sprinkle some whole cooked chickpeas on top. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 5 minutes. Garnish with olive oil and ground Urfa pepper and serve.