As 2020 comes to an end, I want to close out the year on an upbeat note. It’s been a difficult time for so many, and we are all eager to start the new year – one in which vaccines will be rolled out, the terrible orange man will no longer be in charge of the United States, and we can all (eventually) gather with friends and family once again. While this New Year’s will be unlike any other, I think we all owe it to ourselves to celebrate the hell out of the end of 2020. 

This recipe – for hummus topped with caramelized onions and roasted garlic – is part of my New Year’s plan, which includes other fun finger foods: stuffed mushrooms, bacon-wrapped dates, and cheese and prosciutto. This recipe is for the famous hummus from the cookbook Jerusalem, by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, the Israeli-Palestinian duo that have made ingredients like tahini mainstream for American and European cooks. This hummus is superb, less like the packaged hummus from a grocery store and more like the hummus from my favorite hummus restaurant in Berlin (Azzam, I hope you are still around when I get back to Germany) or the hummus you find in Palestine. Plus, for those of you who already make fresh hummus and follow recipes that involve carefully peeling the skin off of each chickpea, this recipe eliminates that hassle.