The first thing I thought when snapping and choosing photos for this week’s Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon was that everyone would think I’d squirted yellow American mustard on falafel. The impression couldn’t be further from the truth. The bright yellow sauce that I share in this week’s column does get its color from turmeric, but the flavor is entirely the bright citrus tang of lemon, the pungent bite of garlic, and the earthy, slightly bitter taste of tahini.

Given its layers of flavor, Lemon Tahini Sauce is surprisingly versatile. In my recipe, I give options for making it into a thicker drizzle-worthy sauce or a thinner pourable salad dressing. Leave the minced garlic chunky or puree the mixture until smooth. Add yogurt or fresh herbs to make it a dip, and swap in lime juice as a flavor variation.

Learn more about using tahini and get the complete recipe for Lemon Tahini Sauce or Dressing in my column.

Make it, share it.
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Homemade Tahini Paste

Tahini has become widely available in recent years, but it’s also easy to make at home. Most commercial brands make the paste from white hulled sesame seeds, and I recommend doing the same in your home kitchen unless you have an ultrapowerful high-speed blender or commercial-grade food processor. The first time I attempted homemade tahini, I put unhulled seeds in my Cuisinart 14-cup food processor, a workhorse for most tasks, as I’ve explained in an article I wrote for Allrecipes.com. But the machine struggled with the unhulled seeds and threatened to overheat if I didn’t give it regular breaks.

After that attempt, I learned that my food processor easily transforms hulled sesame seeds, without the tough external shell of bran, into a smooth, beige paste. The white sesame seed version also tastes slightly creamier and less bitter than the tan paste created with unhulled seeds. For even less bitterness, toast the seeds with medium-low heat in a dry skillet or toaster oven for about 5 minutes, until golden, before you grind them.

As you grind sesame seeds, they release enough natural oils that create a dense tahini paste, but the process takes time and can put strain on weak food processors. If a couple of minutes of blending seems the most that your machine can handle, stop the food processor and add a tablespoon or so of olive oil, sunflower oil, or sesame oil to the crumbly paste to help it out.

Store homemade or store-bought tahini in an airtight container in the fridge; both keep well for months. Besides the sauce in this week’s column, tahini is a key ingredient in Roasted Garlic Hummus and Grilled Eggplant Baba Ghanoush.

Twice as Tasty

Lemon Tahini Sauce works well as a spread on sandwiches and burgers. It can replace hollandaise on poached eggs or gravy on mashed potatoes and can coat hot grilled or roasted vegetables, because it won’t break with the heat like an egg-based one might. Combined with yogurt and herbs, it makes a delicious dip for fresh vegetables and Twice-Baked Sourdough Pita Chips.

Here are just a few other ways that I serve this sauce. You can find more recipes on the blog that are tasty ways to use this sauce in the recipe index.

• Spread on Baked Falafel stuffed into Pillowy Sourdough Pita
• A garnish on Chickpea Vegetable Skillet with Couscous and Feta
• A dressing variation for Arugula Salad with Asparagus and Shaved Parmesan
• Tossed as the dressing with Sweet Potato-Mushroom Salad
• Dolloped on bowls of Harira (Moroccan Tomato Lentil Soup)

Want more Twice as Tasty recipes? Get my books! Click here to order a personally signed, packaged, and shipped copy of The Complete Guide to Pickling directly from me. I also share tasty ways to use pickles in The Pickled Picnic; it’s only available here.