Muhammara (roasted pepper and walnut dip)

A lot has happened since I last posted a recipe.  We  moved and renovated and the renovations made it impossible to cook anything fun.  But we are done and the house looks lovely.  So here I am with Muhammara, a roasted red pepper and walnut  dip.  Except I did not have red peppers and used  yellows ones instead.  The original recipe is from Saveur,  but I made several changes:  I switched out the pomegranate molasses, which I rarely have in the pantry for 2 tsp of balsamic vinegar and 1/2 tsp of sugar.  I also added 2 garlic cloves instead of one and one thai bird pepper for zing.  Finally I did not fry the bread,  I figured the bread was stale and hard and would do just fine without toasting.  In a separate batch I omitted the bread entirely,  this tasted great as well.  My favorite way to eat this is with pita chips.  Health food,  I know.

Ingredients:

2 red bell peppers  (or any other color bell pepper)

1⁄4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 slice white bread

1 cup toasted walnuts

2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

2 1⁄2 tsp. Aleppo pepper or hot paprika (I used Hungarian sweet paprika)

2 tsp. balsamic vinegar (the original called for 2 tsp pomegranate molasses)

1/2-3/4 tsp sugar or to taste

2 cloves garlic, peeled

salt to taste

Method:

1.  Stem and broil peppers (4″ away from the heating element) until charred all over (you will have to turn them 2-3 times).  The original recipe says this will be done in 15-20 min.  Mine took 30 min.

2.  Transfer peppers to a bowl, cool and peel (you could seed them if you want, but I don’t).  The peeling goes faster if you place the peppers in a ziplock bag and sweat the peppers for a bit.  I never do since I hate wasting plastic.

3.  Put all ingredients in a food processors and pulse till smooth.  Taste and adjust salt.

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