QUICKIDY QUICK RED PEPPER DIP

It all went a bit mezze mad at MattyB Bakes this weekend what with my tzatziki and now this gorgeous red pepper dip. It is essentially blitzed roasted peppers, walnuts and breadcrumbs flavored with pomegranate molasses to give it a delicious sweet edge over the garlic and smoky spices. Finish off with a smattering of fresh parsley leaves and a couple of pomegranate seeds for a real fruity burst of flavor. You are going to fall in love with this delicious treat the second you take your first bite. I can you for sure that I certainly did!

This is a quickidy quick recipe so I am using jarred roasted red peppers but if you wish you can go all out and roast your own peppers. Spray the peppers all over with some oil and then pop into the oven on its highest temperature. Check them after 15 minutes and if the skins have blackened and the peppers look soft, remove straight away otherwise pop back into the oven and keep checking every five minutes or so until they are ready. Leave them until they are cool enough to handle and carefully remove the skins. Voila! Your roasted peppers are ready to be blitzed.

And with that lets get blitzing. There are walnuts in the dip so it's defiantly not nut allergy friendly. You can also taste your dip once it been whizzed together and add extra of any of the ingredients if you think it needs it. My recipe below is a guide for how I like it but you can of course adjust it as you see fit:

Roasted Red Pepper Dip

2 Roasted Red Peppers

100g Toasted Walnuts

50g Panko Breadcrumbs

2 Grated Garlic Cloves

2 Tsp Pomegranate Molasses
1 Tbsp Tomato Puree

1 Tsp Smoked Paprika

1 Tsp Ground Cumin

Juice Of Half A Lemon

Salt And Pepper To Season

4 Tbsp Olive Oil

A Few Chopped Parsley Leaves (Optional)

A Small Handfull Pomegranate Seeds (Optional)

1. Begin by placing the peppers, walnuts and breadcrumbs in a food processor and blitz until smooth. You may need to stop and scrape down the mixture every now and then to achieve this.
2. Stop the processor and add in the garlic, molasses, tomato puree, paprika, cumin, lemon juice and salt and pepper. Mix everything together with a spoon until well combined.
3.  Turn the processor back on and add in the olive oil one tablespoon at a time. You'll find that the mixture will become more moist with each addition and will begin to blend together better. After the forth addition of olive oil, keep blending until the desired texture is reached. 
4. Taste and adjust by adding in extra of any of the ingredients if you feel it needs it and blend further. Once the dip is ready transfer to your serving vessel of choice and garnish with the parsley leaves and pomegranate seeds.

Serve your dip straight away with some warm bread or some sticks of celery and carrot if your on a bit of a health kick and get dipping them into a truly delicious dip that you're going to keep going back for again and again. It's that good I would advise you make a big batch so that you can keep it in your fridge ready to tuck into at short notice should an attack of the munchies suddenly hit! Surely that must be better for you then chocolate and biscuits? Along with this and my tzatziki, you now have two mezzetastic treats which you can serve at a moments notice. That's the beauty of any quickidy quick dip!