Flower-Shaped Hummus Platter with Garden Vegetables
Ingredients
- 2 cups hummus store-bought or homemade
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 1 English cucumber sliced into thin ribbons with a peeler
- 6 radishes sliced paper-thin
- 2 carrots cut into thin sticks
- 1 cup sugar snap peas
- 1 yellow bell pepper cut into strips
- 10 pitted kalamata olives
- Pita chips or crackers for serving
Instructions
- Spoon the hummus onto a large round platter and use the back of a spoon to spread it into an even circle about 10 inches across.
- Press the spoon into the center and swirl outward so you leave a shallow well in the middle and slightly raised ridges toward the edge, like petal lines.
- Pour the olive oil into the center well and dust the paprika and parsley over the top.
- Halve the cherry tomatoes and tuck them cut-side up around the inner ring so they sit like the first row of petals.
- Layer the cucumber ribbons just outside the tomatoes, overlapping them slightly so they curve like petals.
- Alternate the radish slices and carrot sticks around the next ring, pressing each piece gently into the hummus so it holds in place.
- Finish the outer edge with the snap peas and bell pepper strips standing upright, and set the olives in the center well.
- Cover loosely and refrigerate up to 8 hours; add the pita chips around the base only once the platter is on the table so they stay crisp.
Good to Know
Build the hummus base and prep every vegetable the night before, then assemble the flower itself in the last twenty minutes, when the colors still look freshly cut.