Navigating the Office Potluck

This week, I have an office potluck. That means I have spent the beginning of the week thinking about what I am going to bring. One of the most important things for a potluck is to know your office, so you know what other people are going to bring, and then you can make something that fits in perfectly to the overall spread.

Now, I have worked in places where the potluck consisted almost entirely of casseroles and desserts. Casseroles are easy, and it is always easy to throw together a batch of brownies or cookies, or pick up a cheesecake at the store. I make a fantastic brownie, but I hardly ever make them for this sort of thing because there are always too many desserts. I have also worked in offices where “potluck” was used loosely and almost everyone brought take out: from Safeway, from KFC, or from a chain pizza place. I don’t begrudge anyone the occasional Costco cheat at a potluck, because they make some great dips and cakes and things, but too many casseroles and take-out doesn’t make for a well balanced lunch, and by about 2:00 I’d usually crash from all the refined carbs and want to curl up in my cubicle and take a nap. So in that sort of office, I always ended up bringing a vegetable, like a green salad with real dressing (not just a bottle of ranch), just to make sure there was at least one.

My new office is much better at potlucks. The last one included several salads, a couple of entrees with moose in them (gotta love Alaska!), and a couple of homemade desserts, among other things. Particularly because I didn’t have too much advance notice about this lunch, I will be making something simple, which will not take too much time the evening before- hummus and vegetables. I usually serve carrots with hummus, but of course you can use celery or whatever other vegetables you want, or you can bring bread or crackers. Below is my recipe for hummus, and it is one of my standard potluck dishes. This is a traditional middle eastern hummus, not one of those new-fangled roasted red pepper or whatever dips they call hummus that you get in the store now. Sorry the measurements aren’t too specific, but it’s one of those things you should really just taste as you go and see how you like it, and feel free to change proportions as needed.

Hummus
(It has it all: Vegan! Dairy Free! Gluten free! Kosher!)

Ingredients:

1 can of garbanzo beans, try for low sodium or organic

Olive oil

Tahini

Chopped garlic

Cumin

Lemon juice

Drain the can of garbanzo beans, but reserve the water for later. You may want to rinse the beans to get rid of some of the salt if you didn’t get a low sodium brand. Depending on whether you want your hummus to be smooth or chunky, either puree the beans in a food processor, or mash them up with a potato masher or fork.

Add a couple cloves of finely chopped garlic.

Add roughly a quarter cup of tahini. I like roasted, but some people prefer raw. This is a Middle Eastern sesame seed paste, and you can find it next to the peanut butter and almond butter in most stores. Here in Anchorage, they have it at Fred Meyer, and I think at Carrs.

Add a few tablespoons to a quarter cup of olive oil, depending on your taste and how healthy you want this hummus to be.

Add a few pinches of cumin and the juice of at least half a lemon. Use all the juice in the lemon if you want.

Now, this is where you need to really taste what you have, and make adjustments.  Does it need more of anything? Does it need a little salt? Add more tahini, cumin, or olive oil if needed. Use the reserved water from the can, or plain water if you forgot to save some, and add to the hummus until it reaches the consistency you want. You generally want it to be a little too thin at this point, especially if you’re not serving it right away, because once you put it in the refrigerator it is going to thicken up considerably. If you keep it covered in the fridge it will last around a week to ten days.