Dip It, Dip It Good

When gansie and I first started cooking, one of the things we both made the most was dip. I’m not sure why, but I think one of the reasons is that dips are so easy to fool around with. Dips are the anti-baking. You can start with a recipe, but then keep adding a little bit of this, a little bit of that, until you get what you want.  Most times when I make a dip I end up with about a gallon of it, because I make it too spicy, and have to bland it down with more base, or make it too sweet and have to keep adding things. But it’s great, because you can always keep going until you get it just right. And if that doesn’t work, you can just top it with a thick layer of cheese and everyone will still think you’re a genius.

So throughout all these years of artichoke dip, sun dried tomato dip, hummus, pesto, and all the rest of it, I had somehow never considered a red pepper dip. I don’t know why, because roasted red peppers are one of my absolute favorite things in the world, and I put them on/in everything. But i never thought to just grind them up and make them the whole base of the dip. So when I saw this recipe in Bon App for Syrian-style Muhammara, it was like lighting struck.

Obviously, I didn’t follow their recipe to the t, but used the idea of red pepper and walnuts as a base and went from there, skipping the sweet pomegranate of their recipe and going for a spicier, garlicky feel. Here’s what I did:

Blend together:

– 2 jars of roasted red bell peppers

-2 cups of walnuts

– 4 cloves of garlic

– 1 habanero pepper

– Garnish with cayenne, paprika, salt, pepper, whatever the hell else you feel like throwing in.

For the vehicle, I put a spin on gansie’s pita chips, cutting flat bread into strips, sprinkling with cinnamon, paprika, sea salt and freshly ground pepper, and then baking them for 10 mins a side.