Hummus and Roasted Red Pepper Sandwich

En français ici.
This weekend, Paris hosted probably the largest yearly book fair in the country: the Salon du Livre. Publishers, large and small, come from all over France to sell their books and many of them invite their authors to come and do book signings throughout the 5 days. (You might have noticed that I go to a lot of events involving books, the fact that D. is a writer, proofreader and newly appointed editor-in-chief of the online cultural magazine Culturofil has something to do with that. Also I love books. But that's another story.)

One of my purchases will likely make a few appearances on this blog: Mes soupes salées et sucrées. It was a difficult choice because one of my favorite French fantasy authors came out with a new book recently and I didn't have enough money for both so I was standing in the middle of the fair with my hand in my hands going "Fantasy or soup, fantasy or soup..." in a very tortured and dramatic way. But I decided to give up spring evenings curled up with epic adventure for winter evenings curled up with hearty stews and summer evenings sipping on refreshingly cold fruit soups, and I will be happy to share these moments with you.


As at many of these types of events, the food sold there is extremely expensive and not terribly appetizing. Nine euros for a measly sandwich? No thank you! So I got to work in the kitchen and came up with these much-yummier, much-cheaper sandwiches that we packed and devoured at the Salon du Livre to give us energy to meet our favorite authors.

For 2 people

1/2 cup of of hummus
1 red pepper
a handful of mâche leaves (My translator insists this is called corn salad in English but I've never heard of that. Does anyone recognize these leaves?)
fresh ground pepper
olive oil

Preheat the oven to 375F/190C.

Seed the red pepper and cut into slices. Place the slice on a cookie sheet, lined with aluminum foil and drizzle liberally with olive oil. Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes until tender. Let cool.

Spread the hummus on one side of the sandwich and cover with roasted red pepper slices and mâche leaves. Pepper to taste and drizzle olive oil on the other side of the sandwich before closing and packing to take with you wherever you want to go!


In other news, I've been thinking again (I know, I know, dangerous) about how if we as food bloggers have a responsibility to do something about world hunger (see BloggerAid and join up!), there's another food-related issue that we would be remiss never to mention and that is eating disorders. With that in mind, I'd like to recommend a wonderful new blog out there called Anatomy of a Survivor. Lily is recovering bulimic whose honest and poignant entries are a testament to the struggle of recovering from an eating disorder, as well as being filled with practical advice and encouragement from someone who knows what she's talking about.

I highly recommend it whether or not the topic speaks to you personally, because as much as food can be a wonderful way to share good times with friends, to stay healthy, and to enjoy life, for some people eating is a source of stress and a daily battle, and it's been important for me to recognize that.