• 1 Head garlic
• 3/4 cup lemon juice (from about 3 lemons)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 generous coups tehina (sesame paste)
• 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

Break up the head of garlic by hand, letting the unpeeled cloves fall into a blender Add the lemon juice and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Blend on high for a few seconds until you have a coarse puree. Let the mixture stand for 10 minutes to let the garlic flavor infuse into the lemon juice.

Pour the lemon mixture through a fine-mesh strainer set over a large mixing bowl, pressing on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the solids.

Add the tehina to the strained lemon juice in the bowl, along with the cumin and 1 teaspoon of salt.

Whisk the mixture together until smooth (or use a food processor), adding ice water a few tablespoons at a time, to thin it out. When the tehina seizes up or tightens, keep adding ice water, bit by bit (about 1 1/2 cups total) whisking energeticly until you have a perfectly smooth creamy sauce.

Taste and add up to 1 1/2 teaspoons more salt and cumin if you like. If you're not using the sauce immediately, add a few tablespoons more water to loosen it before refrigerating. The tehina sauce will keep a week refrigerated, or frozen.

Makes a lot, too much to use quickly. I usually make half, splitting a jar of tahini paste. I start with the full ammount of salt, lemon, juice, and garlic, however.

Zahav, A world of Israeli Cooking, Michale Solomonov and Steven Cook