M is for Mange Tout

Excuse the two week absence from the blog. We have been on holiday. We were staying in Cornwall, on the South West Coast of Britain. The cottage we rent each year has no available mobile signal, no phone connection and therefore no blogging. That didn't mean though that we left behind the Great Big Vegetable Challenge.
Our journey through M continued with Mange Tout. Mange Tout (‘eat all’ in French) are simply peas cut off in their prime: immature pea pods. For Freddie, a pea-hater, they are a sheep in wolves’ clothing. This is where we came in with our drama over peas, the reason why we started the blog. As we are only four letters away from his worst nightmare - P for Peas, mange tout can be seen as a kind of rehearsal. Instead of sneaking them in under P for Peas we decided to give them their own day of glory. First off, we kept it simple. They make useful crudités for dipping in hummus. Freddie loves hummus and tentatively bit into the mange tout.
Houmous Recipe

400g tin of chickpeas
3 tablespoons of light tahini
2 cloves of garlic
juice of 2 lemons
2 tablespoons of olive oil
pinch of paprika (optional)
Salt and ground pepper to season

The quickest way to make your own houmous is to use a food processor. Wash and drain the chickpeas and place in the bowl of the food processor. Add the tahini, which is made from ground sesame seeds. Peel and chop the garlic cloves and add with the lemon juice and olive oil. Blend until it is smooth and creamy. Every now and again scrape round the sides of the bowl to make sure that everything is being blended. Add a pinch of paprika and season to your taste with salt and ground pepper.