Vegetable Spreads

We like to visit various ethnic restaurants quite often and usually my favorite part of the meal is the flat bread with some kind of vegetable spread to smear on it. And as Chef Jerry Pellegrino noted, we here in Maryland are perfectly set up to make our own spreads at home.
            It’s super easy and anyone with a food processor or a blender is all set to go. In terms of ingredients, the few items we don’t grow here in Maryland are easy to find, and what we do grow just adds to the freshness and flavor of these tasty spreads. So having a spread on bread as an appetizer is great good spread is light enough so as not to fill you up too soon, but so savory that they do prime your palate for all the good things that are to come.
            One spread we discovered at Syriana Café in Ellicott City. It was a creamy pure white sauce that smacked of garlic and it was super. We’re talking about a classic Lebanese spread called “toum”, and it’s a creamy garlicky concoction that’ll set you right up. I think toum is very closely related to the famous garlic mayonnaise aioli. Very similar. For toum you’re going to need very fresh whole garlic, the kind you can pick up at the farmers markets.Pull the cloves apart, peel them and then cut them in two so you can remove the little green bit in the middle. Then in they go into your food processor along with 2 teaspoons of kosher salt and give it a blitz. As a paste starts to form, you’re going to add a teaspoon or two of lemon juice, and blitz it again. Very quickly it’s going to turn into a thick fluffy paste. And at this point you’re going to add the oil.
            Now if this was aioli, we’d be pouring in olive oil. But this is toum and we want a neutral tasting oil, so canola oil would be perfect. Any way, you drizzle it in slowly while the machine is running. You’ll need about 3 cups of oil, and after each one, pause and add in another teaspoon of lemon juice. Keep processing until all the oil is used up, and you’ve got it.
Just warm up the bread, or you can use it with grilled meats or vegetables… virtually anything that goes with garlic.
            Another dish that we really love is ratatouille, which can either be a stewed vegetable entrée or a spread. And we grow everything you need right here: eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, onions, and garlic. Traditionally, you sauté each ingredient separately, then combine them and cook them as a stew. Where you can take it one step farther is to put in all in a processor and puree it slightly to make it into a spreadable condiment. And I would get creative with my spice rack, because it is a great vehicle for all those great herbs. For instance cumin, fennel, oregano, sage, the list goes on.
For those of you who love olives, there is a celebrated spread that centers of them. It’s called tapenade and it involves a lot of the same ideas. To make a good tapenade you should get a combination of green and black olives…Kalamata are perfect… and try to get them already pitted. Other ingredients include parsley, capers, garlic, some lemon juice and olive oil.
It all goes into the processor and all you have to do is give it a good coarse chop and it’s good to go.
Many of us are big fans of guacamole, and you can take standard guac and jazz it up a bit. You’ll always be using ripe avocados and minced red onions. What you can also do is toss in some diced Roma tomatoes, some mildly hot peppers like a jalapeno, and a dash of Worcestershire sauce, and our ever reliable garlic. Mix it all together and spread it on warm toast slices and you’ll put a smile on everybody’s face.