salsa cremosa di peperoni rossi arrosto e mandorle / roasted red pepper and almond dip

In a recent post, I talked about Round of Hungary peppers (a.k.a., pimento peppers). Together with the Italian long peppers featured in my most recent post with recipe, they are my current favorites in the pepper department. I have been experimenting with roasted peppers in several recipes with varying degrees of success. On Saturday morning, I roasted seven Round of Hungary peppers, which gave me enough material for a couple of experiments. One of them was a success worth relating.

In looking around for ideas for a dip to pair with my version of Lavash crackers (which have become part of my repertoire, due to their popularity) and some of my homemade bread, I arrived at this recipe from Bon Appetit, which I amended to suit my ingredients and preferences. Roasted red peppers from a jar? Not as long as I can get these beauties at the farmers' market¹:

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Roasted red pepper and almond dip

My list of ingredients was as follows:

• 1/2 cup whole almonds, blanched, peeled and toasted in the oven for 12 minutes at 350 F (I am not sure what "natural almonds" means in the original recipe) [Note: I measure the almonds after I toast them; the weight is 75 g]
• 1 cup drained roasted peppers from jar my recent batch of oven-roasted Round of Hungary peppers (see Note below)
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar (aceto balsamico) [I didn't have red wine vinegar]
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice² [instead of some of the vinegar]
• A generous pinch of dried grated orange zest (inspired by Mario Batali — more on this when I write my post for the current edition of Cook the Books)
• 3 garlic cloves, roasted with the skin on and then peeled (see Note below)
• 1 tablespoon fresh bread crumbs (made from my homemade walnut sourdough bread)
• 1 teaspoon olive oil (olio d'oliva)
• Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Note: Given their shape, I roast this kind of peppers whole, at 375 F. After 25 minutes or so, I turn them stem-side down and complete the roasting. When done, I put them in a paper bag to steam and then peel them and remove the seeds. I wrap the garlic cloves in a piece of foil and roast them with the peppers, taking them out when I turn the peppers. When cooled, I peel the cloves.

For the preparation, I followed mostly the inspiring recipe.

Finely chop the almonds in a food processor. Add roasted peppers, bread crumbs, orange zest, vinegar, lemon juice and garlic and process to a coarse purée.

With the machine running, pour the olive oil through the feed tube and process a little longer.

Season dip to taste with sea salt and pepper. Transfer to small bowl.

Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before serving.

If you don't need the whole batch, spoon half in a one-cup container. Cover the surface with a small piece of wax paper, put the lid and freeze. Thaw before serving.

I really liked the result, and so did our dinner guests on Saturday. First, the color attracts you, then the flavor conquers you. And let's not forget the texture, with the almonds providing a pleasant crunch to counter the creaminess of the puréed roasted peppers. Round of Hungary peppers really shone in this recipe. If at some point I only have access to bell peppers, I will use those to make the dip, because I am sure I will make this again — and soon.

This is my contribution to edition #254 of Weekend Herb Blogging, an event started by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen, now organized by Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once and hosted this week by Yasmeen of Health Nut.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

¹ The round of Hungary peppers in the photo were used to make Cauliflower with Cheese. The ones I used to make the recipe described in this post were all dark red like the one on the bottom right corner of the photo.

² I had omitted this and added it after publishing the post: apologies to the early readers.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

salsa cremosa di peperoni rossi arrosto e mandorle

or launch the salsa cremosa di peperoni rossi arrosto e mandorle audio file [mp3].

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Comments

[girlichef]

Oh my goodness...this looks amazing! And those peppers are just gorgeous!

[Lisa]

Oh, yum. That looks fantastic! Wonderful photo. Love the combo of the almonds and peppers, and the touch of orange zest. And you're right, those peppers are beauties. I don't think anyone around here grows them, but I'll have to look closely.

[Laura]

Che buona d'evessere! Purtroppo non posso digerire i peperoni, ma posso sempre farla per gli ospiti.

[Simona Carini]

Thanks, Heather: I like them a lot. I started seeing them at our farmers' market a couple of years ago. I get them also in my CSA box, which is very nice.

Ciao Lisa. Thanks! I hope you find them or maybe convince one of the farmers in your area to grow some.

Ciao Laura. Io devo stare un po' attenta a mangiarli quando sono crudi, ma cotti non ho problema. Mio padre e' come te. Chissa' quale componente dei peperoni crea difficolta' alla digestione.

[Joanne]

Simona, those peppers are absolutely hypnotic and I love the sound of this dip! So many delicious flavors. I'd like this smeared over a nice hunk of bread!

[yasmeen]

Those are real beauties,love the roasted flavor,dip with nutty touch of almonds sounds fantastic.Thanks for the entry (:

[Simona Carini]

Hi Joanne. They are, and in fact I bought a whole bunch yesterday at the farmers' market, roasted them all and froze them for later use. I have decided I will make this dip to fight winter blues (more like grays, actually, given our winter weather).

Hi Yasmeen. The combination is really nice. You are welcome.

[janet]

This looks like a wonderfully delicious romesco sauce. :) Glad to hear you enjoyed it. I don't think one could go wrong with roasted red peppers, almonds and garlic. :)

[Ivy]

Love roasted peppers and can imagine it with almonds being wonderful.

[tigerfish]

Those peppers look like heirloom tomatoes :) ....I wonder if I could get these peppers in my grocery store.

[astrofiammante]

ciao Simo, che dici ...ce ne andiamo a bere il thè da Brii?? ;-)) questa crema di peperoni deve squisita anche sulla pasta, oltre che da spalmare su crostini, ciauzzzzzzzzzz

[Katerina]

Perfect appetizer. Its color is just amazing.

[Simona Carini]

Hi Janet. I am not familiar with romesco sauce. However, after making this dip, I will try to learn more about it.

Hi Ivy. I remember the beautiful red pepper dip you made earlier this year. The roasted almonds are a great combination.

Hi Tigerfish. I hope you can find some of those peppers: they are really good. I have actually only seen at our farmers' market.

Mi piacerebbe davvero, Astro. La prossima volta che visito il nord Italia dobbiamo proprio organizzare qualcosa.

Thanks, Katerina. The color is indeed pretty.

[Milena]

Mi piace molto, ma no ho mai usato le mandorle ...
Le tue ultime foto sono bellissime :D

[The Food Hunter]

Just found your blog...you now have a new fan.

[Foodycat]

Oh yum! I love the almond/pepper/vinegar combination in a romesco sauce, so I know this would be just delicious too.

[Simona Carini]

Ciao Lenny. Le mandorle tostate sono buonissime in combinazione con i peperoni arrosto.

Thanks, Food Hunter. Welcome!

Ciao Alicia. I definitely need to learn more about romesco sauce. I hope I can get some more peppers to play with before the end of the season.

[fabdo]

è l'acqua dei peperoni ad essere indigesta

[fabdo]

Scusa la pigrizia, 1/2 cup =? e la temperatura di cottura è 180°C?
Questo dip è delizioso già dal colore!e poi io adoro i peperoni in tutti i modi!!

[Simona Carini]

Ciao Do. Non sapevo la storia dell'acqua dei peperoni: grazie dell'informazione. 1 cup sono circa 240 ml, un po' meno di un quarto di litro. Ho pesato 1/2 cup di mandorle pelate e tostate e sono 75 g. Adesso lo aggiungo al post. 350 F corrispondono a 177 C, di colito arrotondati a 180. Fammi sapere se la prepari.

[Lisa]

This reminds me of Muhamara, the Middle Eastern roasted pepper dip, but better, especially with almonds. Muahamara uses walnuts. Your photos are gorgeous!

[Simona Carini]

Thanks, Lisa. Muhammara is a favorite in our house. I wrote about making it in this post. I hope I never have to choose between the two, since I like both quite a bit.