Mediterranean Salad with Hummus Dressing

It's Saturday, I haven't gone to the grocery store this week, and I'm trying to figure out what's in the fridge to eat that's a bit more interesting than plain romaine lettuce salad. I spy the big tub of Meza Hummus from Costco and remember a recipe I'd been meaning to try forever where hummus is blended with lemon juice and olive oil to make a unique dressing. I grab the cookbook and look up the recipe, improvise a bit, and a few minutes later I'm eating a salad that tastes of everything that's complex and interesting about middle eastern food.

The inspiration for a dressing of hummus, olive oil, and lemon juice came from a cookbook called Fiber Boost, given to me last year by the author, Amy Snider. It's an interesting book, not available in the U.S., but I found it on Amazon.ca for people in Canada.

I do try not to gush too much over the food I make, but this was such a wonderful blend of flavors. There are all kinds of things you could add to this salad that I didn't happen to have in the refrigerator, but even with the bare-bones Mediterranean ingredients I had on hand, this was delicious.

Mediterranean Salad with Hummus Dressing
(Combination created by Kalyn with dressing adapted from Fiber Boost by Amy Snider.)

For dressing (enough for several salads)
2/3 cup prepared or homemade hummus
5 T extra virgin olive oil
3 T fresh squeezed lemon juice
salt, fresh ground black pepper to taste
(I used only a bare pinch of salt)

For each salad:
2 handfuls washed romaine lettuce
1 oz. crumbled feta cheese
5-6 kalamata olives

Combine hummus, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in food processor and buzz a few times to mix well. (This could also be mixed by hand.) Put lettuce in a bowl, add about 3 T dressing, and stir to coat lettuce with dressing. Place in bowl, sprinkle with feta cheese, add olives, and enjoy.

In the book, Amy's salad had toasted whole wheat pita croutons, grape tomatoes, and red onion rings. Other things you could add:
diced cucumber
chopped red bell peppers
capers
boiled eggs
shrimp
cooked asparagus
canned tuna

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