food & dining
Tahini: The Power Ingredient
W Keri White | Special to the JE
hen we think of tahini, most
of our minds jump to the
key flavoring in hummus or
the delicious dressing that tops many
Middle Eastern salads and dishes.

Accurate, to be sure, but narrow in
scope, considering the versatility that
tahini offers. I riffed on tahini recently
in two very different ways, and both
turned out quite well.

The first was one of my “necessity
is the mother of invention” events. I
had cleared out all the late herbs and
greens from my garden and started to
make a pesto — only to discover that I
had no pine nuts, or indeed any other
nuts in my pantry.

As I peered desperately through
the cabinets, my gaze lit upon a jar
of tahini, and I eyed it quizzically … I
figured it would behave more or less
like nuts in a recipe, and it did! The
flavor complemented the herbs, garlic
and cheese, and now I have a stash of
a unique pasta sauce or bread spread
in my freezer for a rainy day.

The second recipe goes in an entirely
different direction. A neighbor recently
traveled to Israel and brought me back
the best halvah I have ever tasted. It
was dense, just sweet enough, laden
with nuts and deeply, madly, robustly
sesame forward. It inspired me to
consider how to integrate tahini and/or
sesame more into desserts.

Some time ago, I experimented with
a gluten-free, dairy-free peanut butter
cookie recipe which was shockingly
good. This seemed like a good start-
ing point. I replicated the recipe using
tahini instead of the peanut butter and
added chocolate chips. Success!
“GOODBYE GARDEN”
PESTO WITH TAHINI
Makes about 1¼ cups pesto
My summer garden, a first foray into
farming beyond a pot of basil in a
sunny corner, was modestly success-
ful. The warm fall weather enabled it
to thrive quite late into the season, and
I only recently harvested the last of
the lingering herbs and greens. These
included nasturtium, watercress, basil,
kale and parsley.

Serve this over pasta, schmear it on
bread, spread it on roasted vegeta-
bles, mash it into potatoes or slather
it on fish. We drizzled it on roasted
acorn squash (recipe below), and it
was sublime.

4 cups assorted herbs/greens,
such as parsley, basil, arugula,
kale, watercress, rinsed and
drained ⅔ cup olive oil
6 cloves fresh garlic
⅓ cup tahini
⅔ cup Parmesan cheese
Red pepper to taste (I used about ½
teaspoon) Cold water if needed
Place all the ingredients except the
water into a food processor or blender.

Puree until smooth. If the mixture is too
thick, add cold water a tablespoon at a
time to loosen it.

Store the pesto in the refrigerator
for several days or freezer for several
months. ROASTED ACORN SQUASH
Serves 2
1 large acorn squash, seeded and
cut in wedges
Olive oil to coat (scant ¼ cup)
Salt and pepper
Photos by Keri White
Heat your oven to 375 degrees F.

Line a rimmed baking tray with parch-
ment. Place the acorn squash wedges
on the tray, cut side up, and brush them
generously with oil. Sprinkle them with
salt and pepper. Roast the squash for
about an hour until it is soft and begin-
ning to brown at the edges.

Remove it from the oven, spread it
with pesto if desired, and serve.

TAHINI CHOCOLATE CHIP
COOKIES Makes about 9 cookies
These cookies are gluten-free and,
depending on your chocolate, dairy-
free. These features make the cook-
ies versatile, inclusive and, above all,
delicious. A note on the brown sugar quantity:
Tahini can vary in flavor and texture;
some are sharper and more bitter,
while others are milder. Similarly, some
brands are thinner in consistency, and
some are thicker. The brown sugar
quantity can be adjusted to sweeten
and/or thicken the batter as needed.

This can be adapted to personal
preference; skip the chocolate and add
cinnamon, cardamom or nutmeg to the
dough. Stir in chopped nuts, raisins or
candied ginger.

1
⅓
1
⅓
cup tahini
cup brown sugar (approximately)
egg cup chocolate chips
Heat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix the tahini, sugar and egg well,
taste for sweetness and adjust the
sugar, if needed. Add chocolate chips.

Drop large spoonfuls of the batter
onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.

You may have to use your hands to
condense the dough a bit to form
cookies. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the
cookies are lightly brown on the
edges and the center is solid. Cool the
cookies completely and store them in
an airtight container. ■
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