Hummus is one of those things I've come to be a big fan of. For the time being, I continue to buy rather than make my own hummus (though recent recalls encourage me to give it a try!). Aside from using it as a dip for vegetables, I love using it as a spread for tacos. It's fun to have taco night and when we do, my husband and I like to spread some hummus on top of our warm corn tortillas and then layer the fillings on top. I usually end up with some leftover hummus. Now, with this simple noodle/pasta dish, I've found another way to use it.
I saw this very simple idea from a recent issue of Rachael Ray magazine. It's as simple as turning your hummus into a sauce for pasta or noodles by loosening it up with a little stock (or even water) and soy sauce. It was definitely worth a try and it was quite tasty, especially for so little effort.
I used thin spaghetti instead of angel hair pasta, and added some shredded carrots to the dish (since more color and nutrients is always a good thing). My husband has a thing against angel hair pasta though I keep insisting it's perfectly fine as long as it's not over-cooked. Since he doesn't seem totally convinced, I went with some thin spaghetti. A thinner type of noodle is definitely the way to go here since this is a simple, light sauce. And as it cools, the pasta will clump up so a thiner pasta works better.
I found that you do need to use a good amount of pasta water to loosen it up. Since there's all that liquid to be added, I tried to bump up the flavor of the dish a bit more by adding some red pepper flakes and a little sesame oil. For more spice, try adding some chili oil. And depending on how much lemon is in your hummus, you could also add a dash of rice wine vinegar as well. That said, the hummus really does provide a lot of flavor on its own.
