Flooded - Parshat Noach

Good news - voting for the Jewish Community Hero award has been extended to Friday the 15th - I would so appreciate it if you voted every day between now and then!

Now, onto the portion. This week is kind of a big deal. It marks the anniversary of the very notion that started this blog. Let me take you back to the beginning.

In high school I was a counselor in a local youth group chapter for elementary aged kids. One year, on the week of Parshat Noach I decided to bake a cake that would teach them about the portion. While many people know some of the basics of the story of Noach and the flood, there are also some details that get lost. For instance, most people get this about the story; a number of generations after creation God wasn't happy with how humans were shaping up, so He decided to destroy them all, with the exception of Noah and his family. They would survive, along with a sampling of animals, to repopulate the earth and start off on a better foot.

But many people think that Noah only took 2 of every animal onto the ark he built, when in fact he took 7 of every male and female kosher animal and two of every make and female non-kosher animal. And the flood didn't only last for 40 days and 40 nights - that's how long it rained. The flood itself lasted for nearly a year, from when it first started raining, to when the waters subsided completely.

I thought I could clear a bunch of these things up through this cake I made - the “Mabul Cake.” Mabul is the Hebrew word for flood and this cake sets the scene from this week's portion and serves as a jumping off point for discussing the story. The cake is made up of a graham cracker reproduction of Noah’s ark sitting atop waters of bright blue frosting teeming with electric-colored gummy fish. While this cake would never win a TV show cooking competition, it has won the hearts of many who have helped to make it and eat it in the last ten years.

After making it the for first time, I got to thinking that I could probably come up with something yummy and educational for each weekly portion and create a whole collection for a cookbook. Ten years later I almost have a complete draft for that cookbook thanks to this blog. It was really the Mabul Cake that kept my cookbook dream alive - each year in the last decade it wound up in some version or other at whatever Shabbat table I was at.

There have been some interesting ups and downs along the way with the Mabul Cake. The year 2000 was a banner year. The cake got an upgrade and a photo shoot. My friend Shoshana told me her mom made a marble cake like mine to give the name a corny twist – mabul/marble cake. Shoshana, Shifra and I made the cake with a box of yellow cake mix and a box of chocolate cake mix in the impossibly smaller toaster oven of our Israeli dorm room. We got very messy as we covered the graham crackers in material that most resembled the pitch Noah might have used to cover the ark, Israeli chocolate spread.

But it was worth it when my friend Devo and I took it to the Glazer’s home for Shabbat. They were so enamored with it that they set it on their table, snapped a few shots with their digital cameras and emailed the pics to friends and family. The cake was gaining fans.

There was the year that I made it with Sam for the first time and he had the notion to actually build the ark to scale (its measurements in the portion are 300x50x30). He drove me crazy tediously measuring and cutting the graham crackers to be just right, but it felt very authentic.

Then there was the year that parshat Noach completely snuck up on me and I found myself without any of the necessary ingredients on Friday afternoon. Sam came up with a genius solution – he made an origami ark and brought colorful capsules home from the local toy store that we dissolved into various animal forms. I baked a mountain of chocolate chip cookies to form Mt Arrarat which Noah’s ark gets stuck on.

Last year I turned the cake into cupcakes and simplified the ark into a single piece of graham cracker covered in chocolate spread. I’m not sure if this presentation would’ve been more impressive to some Cambridge neighbors when we were new to the community, but I think they were a little appalled by the chemically dessert I brought to their meal five years ago.

I've been waiting a long time to tell you the story of the Mabul Cake and how this blog got started. It's nice to finally share it.

Below you’ll find the very healthy and complex recipe for Mabul Cake : ) It’s really incredibly simple but sincerely unwholesome. Part of me feels like I owe everyone a more grown up version of this cake given my current level of cooking, but I could never reinvent the Mabul Cake, it just holds a very special place in my heart.

P.S. My apologies for not having it together enough last week to post about the portion of the week, Parshat Breishit- the very beginning of the Torah. It caught me off guard since we went right from the two day holiday into Shabbat and began the cycle of reading the Torah all over again. You’ll just have to wait for my cookbook to come out to see what I come up with.

Mabul Cake

1 box of Duncan Hines yellow cake mix

1 box of Duncan Hines chocolate cake mix

Water

1 cup of oil

6 eggs

1 tube of blue frosting

1 box of graham crackers

1 jar of chocolate spread/frosting

1 bag of animal crackers

1 pack of gummy fish/sea creatures

Mix each box of cake mix in separate bowl according to the directions on the box (mixing in the water, oil and eggs). Pour each mixed batter into one 12x12 tin or disposable baking pan and swirl the two batters together with a spatula to get a marbled effect. Don’t over mix or you’ll loose the effect.

Bake the cake according to the directions on the box and then allow the cake to cool completely- one hour or more.

Start by building the ark. Take two full graham crackers and line them up next to each other with their long ends horizontally touching the cake. Wedge them into the cake for about 1 inch to anchor them. Break a graham cracker in half and put one half at a right angle with the left end of the two graham crackers and the other half at a right angle to the right end. Wedge those end pieces into the cake too. Then place another two whole crackers opposite where you placed the first and stick them into the cake. Remove each cracker and cover with chocolate spread, including the sides and edges and re stick into the cake. Stick the corners of the ark to each other, using extra frosting if needed.

Prepare two more graham crackers by covering in chocolate spread to create the roof. Before placing the roof insert 7 cow animal crackers (represents the kosher animals) and two elephants (represents the non kosher animals) into the graham cracker ark. Then cover the top of the ark with the two frosted graham crackers.

And finally, frost the exposed areas of the cake with blue frosting and lay the gummy fish on top.

Upcoming Class

I hope all the Boston readers will consider joining me on October 31st for the first LimmudBoston. I'll be teaching a class there (it's being held at Temple Israel in Boston) from 1-2pm titled Biblical Rivalry - Text and Tasting in the Kitchen. It will kind of be like this blog live - we'll explore the weekly portion and cook up a dish together that is related!

Shmini Atzeret/Simcat Torah

More holidays are upon us this week - Wednesday night starts the holiday of Shmini Atzeret, the 8th day of Sukkot when we technically stop sitting in the sukkah (we kind of need to have a whole day to come down from the excitement of the 7 day holiday) followed by Simchat Torah where we celebrate finishing the annual cycle of reading the Torah before we start it up all over again. There's seven rounds of dancing with the Torah and everyone gets called up to the Torah for an aliyah- all the kids even go up for one together in most congregations. If you live in Israel you celebrate these two holidays in one,and if you live outside you stretch it out over two days.

More holidays means more eating. The thing about Simchat Torah is that you go to synagogue at night for all the dancing and don't eat until later, so it's really a holiday conducive to snacks and finger food. There are two dishes that I created in the last few days that are prefect recipes for the occasion. One is what has come to be known as the vegetarian deli role over the past few days - pizza dough artfully folded around home made pesto, cherry tomatoes, olives and parmesan cheese. You slice the "roll" into manageable 2 inch slices for serving. The other is a tortilla, smoked salmon, cream cheese and caper roll up, sliced into not sushi-like segments - no cooking required.

You could also try making some roasted potatoes with lemion slices, black olives, paprika and dill- those are in the first shot in this post.

Vegetarian Deli Role

I adapted this recipe from Chef's Confidential - a beautiful kosher cookbook new to my mother's collection (which I'm gaining inspiration from on my own cookbook project).

1 pre- made pizza dough

1 cup of basil leaves

1/2 cup of pine nuts

4 cloves of garlic, peeled

6 tbsp olive oil, divided

1/2 tbsp salt, plus 2 tsp

3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp parmesan

1 cup of cherry tomatoes

10 kalamata pitted olives

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Remove the pizza dough from the fridge and allow to sit for 15 minutes.

In a food processor or blender chop the garlic, then add the basil leaves, salt and pine nuts. One that is well combined, slowly pour in the olive oil as you continue to process. Add 2 tbsp parmesan and taste for salt.

Place the dough on a silpat non stick baking mat and role out the pizza dough to an even rectangle, nearly the size of the mat. Spread the pesto down the middle four inches of the dough, spread olives and cherry tomatoes over the pesto and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Here is the crafty part that will yield beautiful results. Working on a diagonal, cut slits in the dough with a pair of kitchen scissors every inch, working from the outside of the dough and stopping right before you hit the pesto area.

Now you will weave/braid the strands of dough together by starting on the top left and folding the stand of dough accross the middle of the fillin, and then do the same with the top right strand, continue in this pattern until you get to the bottom of the roll.

Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake for 30 minutes.

Lox and Cream Cheese Roll Up

Serves 4

2 soft flour tortillas

4 tbsp whipped cream cheese

1/4 cup of capers

6 slices of lox

Spread 2 tbsp cream cheese all over one side of each tortilla. Spread 3 slices of lox down the center of each tortillas and sprinkle with capers.

Starting at one end, roll each tortilla onto itself and continue rolling until you have rolled each tortilla. Slice every two inches down the roll and serve cold.

Sukkot

We had a wonderful Rosh Hashana and I hope you did too. Our table was beautifully set before the holiday began with the tablecloth that my father brought that my grandmother embroidered, a Vichinsky honeypot, red red pomegranates, homemade round challahs, our polished kiddush cups (thanks Abba) and flowers from Brattle Square Florist (where Steve makes us wonderful local bouquets), so I had time to snap some pictures. These shots really transport me back to that Rosh Hashana moment and feeling. For a glimpse into the one holiday snafoo we had visit my post at Golden West's blog.


However, for the first time in 10 months I didn't post on the blog last week. There technically wasn't a weekly Torah portion that was read so I shied away from coming here to say something about Yom Kippur but now I regret it. First of all the Torah reading was enthralling, even though we've read it already this year (hopefully you'll be able to read about it in my cookbook), and second of all I didn't get to send you my wishes for a meaningful day.

Well we won't let that happen this week. No weekly portion again because this week is the holiday of Sukkot. Before I jump into an explanation of that holiday I need to confess that I made a mistake in my last post. I told you that we were reading the last two portions of the Torah in a double portion, wehen in fact on the 11th we only read the second to last portion. So please excuse me. We will finish the reading of the Torah next week, at the end of Sukkot on the holiday of Simchat Torah when we celebrate the Torah and finishing the cycle of reading it ... and then immediately start reading it again.

Onto Sukkot. I have always loved this holiday and have a bit of a sukkah obsession. While some East coasters may tell you the act of eating in a sukkah over the course of this Holiday is God's way of testing our dedication, they've got it all wrong. You see we sit in sukkahs to commemorate when God settled the nation in sukkot (booths/huts) after taking them out of Egypt. Our modern day sukkots are reminiscent of the temporary huts they lived in in the Middle Eastern Desert! So they weren't bundling up to keep themselves warm in those sukkahs. And if you live in places like California and Israel, you see right through this.

The commandment to keep the holiday of sukkot is found in Levitikus along with the commandments for the other major holidays - Passover, Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashana, Shavuot. The two big rituals are hanging out in the sukkah (eating is ideal, as well as sleeping) and blessing and waving the four species each day - lulav, etrog, hadasim and aravot - a palm branch, a citron, myrtle and willow branches.



Growing up we didn't have a sukkah of our own since we lived in an apartment building (though most apartment buildings in Israel are outfitted with staggered balconies for people to build a sukkah on and not have their view of the stars blocked by their neighbors). All of our friends with sukkahs would invite us over for the holiday meals and during the week we would often eat at the sukkah at our synagogue. When my parents downsized to a one bedroom after I graduated from college they had a huge terrace to build their sukkah on - we filled it with hand made decorations (by my mom), friends and warm food. Their sukkah even won the title of "Riverdale's #1 Family Sukkah" in a Riverdale Jewish Community Council Contest (ahem don't forget about my contest).


The root of my obsession with sukkahs developed in the last 6 months of my stay in Israel when I was a student at Midreshet Lindenbaum in Jerusalem and picked up a copy of the illustrated Mishnah sukkah. I had an absolute blast learning it with my friend and chevruta, study partner, Shira. We couldn't get over the ridiculous scenarios for places a sukkah might be and whether or not they were considered a legit sukkah- on a camel, on a boat, in a tree. To compound that was a trip we took to a national park in Israel where they rebuild every type of sukkah mentioned in the Mishnah. When we got to see the camel live with a little sukkah on it's back I was beside myself with excitement, and obsession.




The pictures above were taken in the Harvard Law School Sukkah and the Harvard Hillel Sukkah. For a review of many Boston area public sukkahs that I recently wrote go to JewishBoston.com and check one out next week!

I have a great recipe to share with you that I actually made to fill up on during the week before Yom Kippur (this is much more thrilling to me than breakfast food since by the time that rolls around I just want to eat a bagel and crash into bed). I had several veggies that I wanted to use up and they went into this lasagna. I think this warm and hearty dish would be the perfect thing on a cool night in the sukkah next week.


Garden Vegetable Lasagna

1 box of lasagna noodles
1 15 ounce can of tomato sauce
1 bunch of collard greens
1 red bell pepper
3 plum tomatoes
1 10 ounce container of cottage cheese
4 tbsp Feta Cheese
4 tbsp Parmesan cheese
1 egg
salt and pepper
Basil leaves

Preheat the oven to 375. Mix the cottage cheese in a bowl with the egg and add some salt and pepper. Thickly slice the peppers and tomatoes. Rinse the collard greens and tear into bite size pieces.

In a large glass baking pan pour a thin and even layer of sauce. Layer one layer of lasagna noodles over it. Spread the cheese and egg mixture over that and place some torn pieces of collard greens and several slices of pepper and tomato over the cheese then sprinkle with some feta cheese and Parmesan. Continue layering again with the sauce, noodles, cheese spread, vegetables and sprinkled cheese until you can't fill the pan anymore.

Cover the dish with tinfoil and bake for 40 minutes. Enjoy warm with some nice fall soup or baked squash.

Last Licks - Ha'azinu - V'zot Habracha

I kind of feel like I'm gearing up for a marathon this week. I should probably charge up on carbs for the tour de force of shopping and cooking (already started), eating and entertaining (six serious meals in a row), and praying and leading (three days of back to back services) that is about to unfold. But ready or not it is coming - take a peak at my Rosh Hashana menus below to see what I've got in the works.

And thank you for voting for me as a Jewish Community Hero - keep it up, I've already got 350 votes in the last few days- thank you!

It's hard to think ahead to the end of the week, and to the portion, when so much is going on before then. And it's hard to muster the creative energy to write a post amidst this marathon. I feel badly that I can't put my all into the last two portions of the Torah which we will read this Shabbat in a double portion - Ha'azinu - V'zot Habracha. But here is the gist; Moses is taking his last opportunity to make sure his message gets across - he metaphorically grabs the nation by the shoulders, shakes em a bit to make sure they've heard what he's been saying to them these last decades.



In case not, Moses opens the portion with a song "give ear, heavens, may the earth hear the words of my mouth." The nation may come and go but the heavens and earth will be around to testify that Moses did instruct them on how to be a successful nation.

This song delineates the kindness God has shown to Israel. It's this kindness that eventually leads the nation to sin because they become so comfortable with everything that is provided for them. God ensures that "the nation eat the fruits of the fields, suckle them with honey from a stone and oil from a rock, butter of cattle and milk of sheep with fat of lambs... wheat as fat as kidneys." At the end, Moses passes away and leaves his pupil Joshua in charge of the nation.

There's lots of great produce in the sentence I quoted above to play with. They could be prepared to serve as a reminder of all the amazing things God provides and how we can be grateful or take for granted. This is an idea, being grateful or taking for granted, is at the very heart of the repentance and return that we reflect on during the high holidays.

To celebrate the abundance of fruit of the field I have a sorbet recipe from my mom - it is incredibly simple and versatile and can be made with any fruit you have on hand or any that you really are grateful for.



Fruit Sorbet
My mom came up with this simple easy after dinner pleaser. The formula is simple- home made simple syrup and puree of any fruit you like. I've tasted her kiwi and mango editions so far and will be coming back for more over the holidays.

Simple Syrup (1 cup sugar with 1 cup water boiled, then simmered for 15 minutes then cooled )
2 cups pulp of fruit blended or food processed
1/4 cup vodka

Note: Very ripe fruits such as kiwi, peaches, bananas, strawberries and mangoes work well in this recipe. Apples and citruses are not choices. When using kiwi or peaches try to add a two to three chopped basil leaves, when using mango add a tablespoon of lime juice, one tablespoon lemon juice to strawberries.

Start by making the simple syrup. Bring the water and sugar to a boil, lower the flame and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and cool.

Blend 2 cups of your fruit of choice in a blender or food processor and add 1/4 cup of vodka for the last few pulses. The vodka helps it freeze well and doesn't alter the taste (without the vodka the sorbet gets pretty hard and requires a lot more thaw time before eating).

When everything is blended together thoroughly, transfer to an airtight container and freeze until ready to use. Remove from freezer ten minutes before serving. Top with any variety of embellishments such as mint leaves, a dollop of raspberry jam or even another color and flavor home made sorbet.

My Rosh Hashana Menu Plan

Rosh Hashana first night
London broil with citrus marinade
Mashed potatoes with fresh herbs
Green and purple string beans with herbs de province
Salad
Apple cake


Rosh Hashana first lunch
Salad
Chicken
Beef Cheek
Red cabbage slaw
Corn bread
Apple rhubard tart






Rosh Hashana second night
New fruit
Salad
Lentil soup
Meat stuffed squash
Kale
Leftover desserts

Rosh Hashana second day
Avocado chumus
Salad
Sun-dried tomato pesto bread
London Broil
Potato leek pie
Roasted squash
Fruit sorbet

Friday night
Beet Soup
Salad
Beef Kabobs
Safron rice
Grilled vegetables
Sorbet

Shabbat Lunch
Stuffed red peppers
Bok choy salad
3 types of mushrooms over rice
Kabobs 3 ways- beef and chicken and veggie
Zucchini carrot cake


SHANA TOVA - Have a GOOD YEAR!

Kitchen Report

As promised I'm here to share my rookie jam making, the amazing beef cheek results and some blueberry corn muffins that that could've fooled you into thinking they were bakery bought.

So let's jump right into jam. That might actually be a bit hard to do, considering how hard the jam turned out in the end. My co-worker Stacey came over and we jammed together. At first we didn't believe that the peaches and raspberries and sugar were really going to form a thick enough consistency. We're still totally enjoying the results, just struggling with spreading the stuff a bit. I'll be adding in lemon juice next time to see if that helps with consistency, and if not then it's onto the packet of pectin. I'll hold off sharing a recipe till I get it right. It's certainly worth another try because it was easy enough to make, very pretty and is a delicious spread, if a little on the sweet side.


Here are the blueberry muffins we gobbled down last week with berries we'd picked ourselves - those always taste so much better. I loved the results of using buttermilk instead of the plain milk called for. You should totally try them out if you're a blueberry fan - I'm very into the corn, blueberry pairing lately, yellow and purple are beautiful colors to combine.

These ranunculus flowers were brightening up my kitchen after they were towed home from Campe and Amanda's beautiful wedding in VT.


I owe you a report of beef cheeks. Now if some of you recoiled from your screen when I wrote that a few weeks ago and are finding yourself having the same reaction now, I'm telling you to give me a third chance.

I finally got around to making the Mexican recipe I linked to two Parshas ago and oh boy was it good! The meat arrived in a nice package from Golden West and it looked like any other small sized meat cut- like a chuck steak. I defrosted it in the refrigerator and created a paste like marinade for it with all kinds of delicious ingredients like honey, cumin, cilantro and espresso!


As it was slowly roasting in chicken stock and lime juice I busied myself with making some great accompaniments- pickled onions and carrots, red cabbage slaw with basil, citrus and garlic. I even blended a melon agua fresca. Yum. The meat was so tender and richly flavorful that Sam and I agreed it needed to go onto our Rosh Hashana menu. Below are the way I adapted the recipes and some pictures.





Mexican Beef Cheeks
Adapted from this food 52 recipe

2 lbs beef cheek
3 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 tbsp natural peanut butter
1 tbsp honey
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp of instant espresso like Via
2 tbsp olive oil, plus 2 more
handful of cilantro (fresh is preferable but frozen will work)
1 tsp salt
1 cup of chicken stock
1 lime

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees.

Combine everything from the garlic to the salt in a blender. This will form a paste. Place the beef in a tupperware and spread the paste all over the meat. Let sit in the fridge for 10 minutes.

In a dutch oven warm up a 2 tsbps of oilive oil and brown the meat. Add in one cup of chicken stock. Cut the lime in half, add the juice to the dutch oven and then add in the shell of the squeezed lime. Cook in the oven for 2.5 -3.5 hours.

Remove from oven and shred with 2 forks. The meat will be very tender.

Serve in a warmed tortilla with pickled onions and carrots and red cabbage slaw. Enjoy while sipping a melon agua fresca.


Pickled Red Onions and Carrots

1 red onion, peeled
2 large carrots, scrubbed clean
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup of white wine vinegar
1/4 cup of rice wine vinegar
1/2 tsp salt

Thinly slice the red onion and carrots.

Add the vinegars, sugar, salt and oregano to a large stainless steel pan. Heat over a medium low heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add in the onion and carrots and add to a 275 degree oven for 10 minutes. Remove and cool in the vinegar. Strain and serve.


Red Cabbage Slaw
I found this recipe by Bobby Flay and adapted it slightly

1 small head of red cabbage
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup canola oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup of basil
2 garlic cloves
Salt

Slice the cabbage and put in a large bowl. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a blender and toss with the cabbage.

Melon Agua Fresca
Adapted from Eating Local by Janet Fletcher and Sur La Table

1 melon, seeds and skin removed
1.5 tbsp fine sugar
1 cup of water
1 lime, juiced

Cut the melon into chunks and place in a blender with the other ingredients. Chill in the fridge and serve.

The In-gathering - Nitzavim-Vayelech

Happy Wednesday. For me it is quite the happy day - I got a raise and was nominated for the Jewish Community Hero Award from The Jewish Federations of North America! I would love if you cast a vote or two for me (or one every 12 hours). I'm incredibly touched to have been nominated and would love to use the money for the young adult Jewish community in Boston.

Now there are a few things that I'm dying to share with you that I've been cooking up in my kitchen lately, but they've got nothing to do with the weekly portion. Like my first attempt at jam making, the amazing beef cheek results that has me converted to offal and some blueberry corn muffins that nearly tasted bakery bought. So here's what we're going to do. Today I'm going to tell you a bit about this week's double portion, and then at the end of the week will share my miscellaneous kitchen forays with you.



Here goes. This week's portion is a double portion, Nitzavim-Vayelech, and covers the good, the bad and the ugly. Moses reminds the nation that the covenant that God made with them to have a continual relationship isn't just for their generation but for every one after them. And there will be great blessings, as mentioned in the previous portion, and the nation will flourish. Moses also lets them know that there are for sure going to be people in the nation that stray away from that relationship. And God won't be so happy with that. In fact those curses mentioned in the previous portion will befall them and the land of Israel. And because of these curses they'll be banished to other lands. But they have an open invitation to return to that relationship.



No matter where the nation finds itself scattered, from those places they can return to God in their hearts and God will gather them - from every crazy corner of the globe - and bring them back to their land to live and prosper. This imagery found in our portion become the model for the in-gathering of the exiles. It's not so hard to picture this melting pot of Jews from around the world, as we have our own example in modern day Israel, but what would they all be able to eat together?


I'm going to say some fusion dishes. Fusion cuisine is a combination of different cooking techniques and ingredients from different countries into unique dishes. It introduces the flavors from one culture to the flavors of another and combined they create an amazing new dishes. While trying to find a simple fusion dish to cook and recall this in-gathering at our Shabbat tables this week I also found something that wouldn't require turning the oven on in this incredible heat. I can't wait to try this Chummus Guacamole. It's a fusion of two of my favored cuisines, and ones that we make frequently in our home- Mexican and Israeli. Sam's dad is from Mexico and Sam is usually in charge of all the Mexican fare in our house- from enchiladas to margaritas. In particular he makes a killer guacamole. So we'll see how this hybrid lives up.

In hopes of a year of returning to God and of ultimate in-gathering to our nation and our land I have this recipe to share with you. Have a Shana Tova- may this year bring a year of double blessings for everyone.

Hummus Guacamole

I came across this recipe on a random site and loved it

1 Ripe avocado, peeled
2 cups pre-made hummus
1 scallion, chopped
1 lime, juiced
1/2 tbsp Olive oil
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
Salt

Pita

Scoop the avocado into a bowl and mash with a fork. Add in the hummus and stir well. Then add in the scallion. Add in olive oil, lime, cilantro and salt. Serve with warm pita cut into wedges.