I’ve not eaten food I didn’t cook for quite a while now, I’ve seen people talk about how lovely it’s been since lockdown has eased, to go out to a restaurant and I know lots of people have been ordering take away during lockdown.

I have not, while I do eat out occasionally under usual circumstances, and I am going to miss the lunch at Hawksmoor we had planned for my birthday (Hawksmoor are only opening for lunch at the weekends and I don’t want to go into the centre of London for dinner or at the weekends at the moment) but I’ll live. I don’t really order in food either, the last time I had a take away at home was when I had my foot op (five years) and other than that, we have fish and chips when we’re in Amble.

Lockdown didn’t change how much of my own cooking I eat and in some ways (not having to pack lunch or breakfast) has made it a lot easier. It’s been a time, I’ve been able to be more creative not less but while I am at home more, I’m still working so I’ve needed to meal plan, I have more time to cook but not all the time in the world! I’ve made hummus before, this one from Felicity Cloake (made you’ll note when I was unemployed and had much more time) and have often made it from a can of chickpeas. One of the joys of having had a blog for such a long time and of running it entirely for my own enjoyment is that I can and will repeat recipes when I find a new one that works.

Say hello to the new hummus recipe! I’ve taken to making this on a Sunday so I can eat it for lunch with vegetables and flatbread through the week. It has a few steps but it’s pretty hands off and makes really smooth hummus. My biggest variation from the recipe has been in the amount of garlic (about eight cloves instead of just one) and often more lemon juice. Do use the reserved liquid, what appears to be a soft and perfect hummus when it’s warm and straight out of the food processor can turn into a concrete brick when it’s been in the fridge a couple of days! I have used both tahini and peanut butter when I’ve run out of tahini, both work fine.