Roast Capsicum Dip - And A Tasty Snack

Sadly, the Cookbook Club I've been attending at our local bookshop has ceased, so this was my final recipe from the monthly choice in November - Garlic, Olive Oil and everything else by Daen Lia.  She has millions of followers on social media apparently (but I have to admit that I've never heard of her!).  She is an Aussie cook with Spanish and Italian heritage, known for her modern Mediterranean dishes (but not by me - hehehe).

Her recipe includes instructions on how to roast the capsicums yourself, but I happily went out and bought a couple of jars.  You can check out how to roast them on the Net, if you're keen.  Daen basically says to roast them on a lined tray at 220C/430F for an hour.  You can also buy them from your local deli. 

We live in what was an Italian migrant enclave for many years after the Second World War.  So happily for us when we moved here, there were Italian delis and bakeries and cafés.  One of the local shops still had their Italian mamas and nonnas roasting the vegetables and chickens, and making all sorts of goodies.  Sadly, that generation has passed on, so there are few such shops around these days.  So make your own, my friends, or grab a jar or two from the supermarket.

off to Cookbook Club

Serves half a dozen (maybe more):

ingredients:

2 jars of roasted capsicum (c. 300g./10 oz each) = c. 600g./20 oz

200g./7 oz fetta, cut into large chunks

1-2 garlic cloves, sliced in half

sea salt and black pepper, to taste

20-25 mL/1 biiig Tbs of lemon juice

herbs of your choice - I used dried chives, parsley and oregano

1 Tbs EV olive oil 

1/2 tsp sugar (optional)

handful of walnuts - maybe 30g./1 big ounce

1 tsp sumac (optional)

For serving:

a long ciabatta stick or French baguette, cut into slices

100g./3.5 oz prosciutto, cut or torn into chunks or strips

100g./3.5 oz green, pitted olives - sliced 

Method:

First drain the capsicums and pat them dry

Into the oven they go, on a baking-paper lined tray for 10-12 minutes at 160C/320F

Let them cool for a few minutes, then throw them into your food processor, along with the fetta, garlic, salt, pepper, and lemon juice

Give them a blitz till nicely combined, then add the herbs, olive oil, sugar and walnuts and blitz again till you have a vibrant, mostly smooth, not-quite-blitzed to death dip

Spoon out into a serving bowl, and throw on the sumac if using

You can eat this as is, with crackers or bread, or turn it into tasty bites by smearing over the slices of ciabatta or baguette, then topping with the prosciutto and sliced olives  

Notes:

You can serve the dip with crudités if you like

grab yourself some roasted capsicums in a jar

and blitz 'em!

into this

taste 10/looks 3

slice up the bread

slather on the dip, and add prosciutto and olives

boxed up for Cookbook Club

(Joining up with Min from Write of the Middle for #WWWhimsy - Wednesday Words and Whimsy)

c. Sherry M.