Tahini Goddess

See that hottie in the bolo tie? That’s my incredibly talented pal, Jody Candrian. This weekend I had the good fortune of hosting her as well as a very large gaggle of my favorite pals for a trunk show where we shopped her glorious cuffs, bolos, rings and necklaces. Jody, who currently resides in New Orleans, always brings an incredible assortment of glamorous goodies with her when she visits us on the West Coast. As I was planning the event I decided it would be important to serve up some delicious grub that would help us all keep our stamina up while were perusing her deep display of baubles and doing serious damage to our wallets.

In honor of the brilliant array of incredible gal pals that had RSVP’d to the trunk show and the serious Wonder Woman undertones in Jody’s bold brass cuffs, I decided to give it up for the goddesses by concocting a a super creamy and flavorful green goddess-style dressing served with loads of crunchy veggies. A couple of my friends, Abbey (that’s her with the beautiful red hair making the “I just scored a druzy cuff!” face) and Amy, both avoid dairy too, so I used tahini, instead of mayo and sour cream, as the base of the dressing. They were stoked, and as I suspected, the rest of the crew didn’t even notice the stealthy substitute. The spread was completed with some highlights from a few of my past posts: toasted pumpkin seed salsa and lemony hummus (served this time with a roasted garlic oil and roasted pine nuts) served along with my favorite dosa chips, arbequina olives, medjool dates and roasted herbed almonds.

Thanks again to Jody for hauling so much good stuff such a long way, and to my friend Susan for supplying all of the tasty wine that helped loosen our wallets!

Tahini goddess recipe

1 bunch basil leaves (about 2 cups)

1 bunch scallions, whites and greens, cut 1/4″ thick (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 cup tahini

1 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 c olive oil

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon anchovy paste*

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Add all ingredients to a high powered blender and mix on high speed until smooth.

*The anchovy paste adds a lot of delicious flavor, but can be omitted to make the recipe vegan.