So, for those of you who read my blog all those years ago back in 2011 (that’s just Kristy and Greg, ha!) perhaps you might remember the first time I made a roasted red pepper and feta dip? Behold the horror… I’m not even going to post a picture here in case anyone gets completely turned off the recipe, so you’re going to have to check it out yourself if you’re brave enough. Suffice to say, it looked pretty vile – as in, “not even a little bit appetizing”. Of course, I still have far to go with my food photography and I don’t really have the space to be getting overly artsy with my photos at the moment but I’d like to think that hopefully this looks better… at least like something one could imagine eating. I’ve definitely learned that taking a photo at 11pm does not a good photo make!
So what do you think? Would you eat a roasted red pepper and feta dip? I loved it personally. I don’t think it could quite trump the artichoke and coriander offering from my dip extravaganza but it was a great dip nevertheless. My wife wasn’t a big fan… she said it was a bit on the sweet side (I guess she’s sweet enough (ha), but then what does that make me? Bitter?). Well worth a remake in my opinion. Of course, I won’t be able to make it as frugally as I could in France; I used to be able to buy an enormous sack of about fifteen red peppers for about €2. Here you’ll pay the equivalent of about €1 for one.
I’m on Easter vacation – yay! The joys of being a student again. I can’t wait for summer for that very reason. I’ve posted a few Easter-related recipes here before but – again – they were a while ago and the photos are predominantly dreadful so doing a little re-make might be a good idea. At the very least, hiding the shameful photos and swapping them out for better ones is a good idea.
Horror of horrors, it has dawned on me that Sweden doesn’t really “do” chocolate eggs. You can get little ones, and those Lindt gold bunnies but I’m used to having a great big hollow chocolate egg which you can crack in two and devour like some sort of choco-maniac. You want to know what else is… just plain bizarre? I saw a load of display cases in the store selling little kiddy-sized broomsticks and witch hats.
“Isn’t it a bit early for Hallowe’en?”, I asked my wife?
“No, that’s for the Easter witches of course!”, she replied.
Easter… witches? Then I remembered that we had indeed talked of this before, but it’s no wonder it didn’t stick because it just seems so weird that kids dress up as witches and wizards at… Easter… and presumably go door-to-door, soliciting candy.
So I wonder what does one do at Hallowe’en here? Dress up as a chick or a bunny and go on chocolate pumpkin hunts?
Roasted Red Pepper and Feta Dip
Roasted Red Pepper and Feta Dip
Ingredients
- 4 large Red Peppers
- 150 g Feta Cheese
- 3 cloves Garlic
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 tsp ground Cumin
- 1 tsp freshly ground Black Pepper
- 1 tsp Salt
Instructions
- Start off by placing the red peppers and garlic, still in its skin, under a hot grill or broiler, turning occasionally until the skin is blackened and charred. This will take about 20 minutes.
- Remove the peppers from the grill and allow to cool until you can handle them. Carefully peel away all the skin and discard. Remove the stalks and seeds and then place the peppers and garlic into a food processor and blitz until quite smooth.
- Transfer the blended pulp into a strainer and allow excess liquid to strain away for a few minutes before placing back into the food processor with the feta cheese, olive oil, cumin, black pepper and salt and then blitzing once again until smooth and well combined.
- Allow to fully cool before enjoying.
Well, if you wanted to dress up like a bunny on Halloween, I’m sure we’d all support your decision. We might also take pictures and upload them on the internet.
No doubt <3
LOL @ you two. I love this dip and I don’t mind it sweet-ish. I must be bitter too and it doesn’t bother me one bit.
No big chocolate eggs? Seriously?
Now that I think about it, I think you’d make a great Easter Bunny. 🙂
I think if it was the only dip on the table, the sweetness might get boring after a while, but when eaten in conjunction with others I think it goes perfectly!
Still bummed about the chocolate eggs… Perhaps I’ll need to start my own import business!
Very tasting dip, Charles. Aesthetically is IS prettier than the first one you made though I think if you had planted some crackers or veggies in the picture you took of the earlier batch it would have distracted from the grainier look. It’s all about presentation which we get better at with experience. At least SOME people do. 🙂
Ah, even so – it was still a dreadful photo 😀 Taken under artificial light too which is always a disadvantage, unless you have some fancy-pants professional lighting rig.
I’m all for sweet dips! I’ve been mixing up quite a few dishes with feta this week after a long hiatus. I recently started to crave it again, so your timing is perfect!
So witches and wizards at Easter? That is fascinating! I know my kids would love to go door to door for candy twice a year. In fact, they would much prefer that to our Easter I’m sure. I hope you enjoy your break from school this week. Here’s hoping you find a delicious, hollow chocolate egg! (Miss A found one on our trip and LOVED it!)
Hi Kristy. No sign of any chocolate eggs alas. My wife’s aunt had a big metal egg which I was going to borrow to paint the inside with chocolate and make my own, but then I forgot and left the egg at her house… sigh 🙁
When i moved to the US, the first thing I noticed was the lack of big hollow Easter eggs! I miss them so much. We don’t do Easter in my family, but the joy of Easter egg shopping in London was such a thrill! The rows upon rows of Easter egg. Here we get disgusting peeps, a few Lindt bunnies and the rest are gross. I miss my Buttons and Smarties.
So, yes, thanks for updating that photo. This dip looks WAY better and I would def make pepper and feta dip. You used to get 15 for 2 euros?? Wow. Here, on sale they’re maybe a $1 otherwise more.
So, what’s the story behind witches and broomsticks at Easter? That’s a new one for me.
Oh, they don’t have them in the US either? They weren’t so common in France too, although you could at least get giant Kinder eggs, which I guess is something at least.
Yeah, I loved summers in France… you could get huge bags of ratatouille ingredients… peppers, courgettes, aubergines, for next to nothing and live like a king with those beautiful vegetables!
Hi Charles,
We’re expecting 5 cm of snow tonight! Can you believe it? I am quite unhappy about it.
What a lovely dip; I make a similar flavour combination but it’s not a dip and it’s so damn good! Here’s the link if you’re interested, if not, just delete it. http://kitcheninspirations.wordpress.com/2011/07/20/the-marlatt-weekend-in-bloor-west-village/
Did you try my technique of cutting the red peppers into thirds or quarters and removing the guts? I remember you had mentioned that you really hate the roasted pepper guts (kind of like intestines, no?) Also, I usually put the freshly roasted peppers into a bowl and cover it with a plate and rest it for 10-20 minutes; the resting allows the peppers to cool a bit and it also steams the skin so it’s that much easier to peel off! Red peppers are expensive in these parts so I usually buy them when they go on sale and I roast large batches and freeze peeled roasted peppers on a parchment-lined sheet and then when frozen I just bag them in a resealable bag, that way I have gorgeous roasted red peppers whenever I need them.
Hope you have a great week.
Hi Eva, did I really say that about the red pepper guts? Heh, I don’t remember it at all. I’d say they’re more annoying than anything to clear out since the seeds get everywhere, but I don’t really have any problems actually handling it really – aside from the fact that your hands just get covered in gunk. Great tip about putting it into a covered bowl though – will try that. Good one on the freezing too. In the past in France I would roast them and then put them in a big mason jar and cover them with oil, but this way probably keeps them a good deal longer.
I think this goes well with your no-knead bread (which recipe I still have and my husband makes often). The dip of color is gorgeous and I love the simpleness of this recipe.
Mm, I think everything goes well with my no-knead bread! 😀 Glad to know you guys eat it often. It’s lovely isn’t it?
Wow, what a delicious dip recipe! Thanks for sharing, it looks mouthwatering.
Thanks Nancy, it did have such a gorgeous colour! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Witches on Easter and bunnies on Halloween, food for thought, hahahaha!! Why do I think you would look cute either way?
The dip has feta, so any other cheese you think would go well?
Haha, well, I’m sure there are plenty of people who would just love to see a photo of me dressed up like a giant Easter bunny here but sadly I can say with 99% certainty that that will not happen :D.
For this dip, I guess ricotta might work well, although it wouldn’t have the same flavour alas. The kind of “salt and sour” flavour from feta is what makes everything really good.
Hello Charles, I look back at some of my earlier posts and it is embarrassing, isn’t it? We learn a lot in the couple of years… Love this zesty dip and wishing you a very happy Easter holiday.
I feel very bad about my old posts – especially since I never wrote anything… I just gave a one or two line description of the recipe and that was it. Hardly enticing reading, but it’s funny how we evolve isn’t it?!
One more dip! I will visit your blog back when I organise a party because both this and artichoke one sounds fantastic. I do know artichoke dip, but I have never tasted pepper and feta. It seems an excellent idea since I love baked feta and peppers dish (I posted it some time ago).
As for your old photograph… frankly it is definitely appetising and looks 100 times better than my freaky old ones… I also change photographs or even sometimes delete very old posts if there were no comments and if the dishes looked awful. I think that a new photograph is an excellent occasion to post once more a beloved recipe (the proof: I have never noticed it before here!).
You know, I always get a lot of hits on my Janssons Frestelse recipe, but the photo is so bad! I wanted to take another photo this year at Christmas but… well, Sweden at Christmas doesn’t have a whole lot of natural light here in the north so it was very hard, but perhaps next year!
It’s embarassing to read through my old posts… I should replace my tzatziki photo as well… I’ve made it countless times since my post and even though it’s not a hard dish, and millions of recipes exist on the web, I’d still like to have something which looks “presentable”.
I would absolutely eat the combination of roasted red pepper and feta! I love a good feta but sadly, there are many horrible quality cheeses masquerading under the name feta (in Canada anyway, not yet as familiar with how well regulated that particular mark is in the US). Looks like you’ve got quite a lot of light hitting your shot Charles 😉 have you changed your photo shoot location?
It’s too bad there aren’t stricter controls over things like that. It’s very controlled in the EU – not just feta but all sorts of things. You can’t beat a good feta though – it’s a real pleasure to eat.
I currently have 2 different places I use for shots, depending on the time of day and so forth. One of them is a glass-roofed conservatory kind of place which is just 100% light so it’s wonderful, although can be too much if it’s a sunny day!