Pomegranate and Roasted Red Pepper Dip

My sister-in-law got married just over a week ago in an intimate ceremony in the Catskills. It was a fun-filled three-day affair complete with a stunning bride, heartfelt vows, and tons of love from their closest family and friends. In return for an epic wedding present she and her fiancé gave us (they made us this beautiful video of my husband and me they presented us on our wedding day), I offered to prepare their welcome wedding feast. Now I'm not totally insane for offering; her wedding would only be 27 people. She requested lots of small bites that people could nibble on as they moved about, chit-chatting and getting to know each other.

The first thing that popped into my mind was a delicious dip bar! I'm a huge fan of mezze because I think there's pretty much something for everyone. Also, dips are low commitment. They can be made ahead of time, only get better with time as the flavors meld, and almost always involve throwing things in a food processor and pressing 'ON.' 

On the menu was a smoky beet hummus because it's just too pretty not to have on a tablescape, a bright and herby tzatziki of which I'm going to have to share with you someday because it was eat-with-a-spoon tasty, and this tart and earthy red pepper dip that I could slather on just about everything.

It's the offspring of two dips that come from different cultures with equally rich food histories. From Spain, you have romesco, a smoky red pepper dip that uses hazelnuts and/ or buttery Marcona almonds, smoked paprika, and often thickened with stale bread. The other dip, muhammara, hails from Syria and Turkey and is a red pepper and walnut dip slightly sweetened by the tart and tangy pomegranate molasses. If you haven't heard of or tasted pomegranate molasses, you're in for a real treat. It adds tremendous depth of flavor and nuance to anything it graces. It's that secret ingredient that people won't be able to quite put their finger on. I bought mine from Whole Foods, but you can get it online. There are even recipes out there to make your own with pomegranate juice and sugar, but a bottle of it will serve you well.

It's summer, and red peppers are quite abundant which means you can go about roasting your own in the oven and peeling them for a real seasonal treat. Or, if you're like me and have 8 other dishes to make for a wedding feast, you buy good quality roasted red peppers from a jar, drain them and proceed with the recipe. Having made this dip with home-roasted peppers, it does take on a rounder, more full-bodied taste, but it's only slightly perceptible. And probably only psychological if I'm being honest. 

Use this as dip, a sandwich spread, a bruschetta topper, a sauce for whatever protein you're having for dinner...it's so versatile. It also tastes just as great a few days after making which means it's the perfect treat for entertaining. 

Pomegranate Roasted Red Pepper Dip

1 10-12-ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained
1/2 cup marcona almonds
1/4 cup toasted and peeled hazelnuts for fancy version or toasted sunflower seeds for everyday version
1 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 garlic cloves, minced
Sea salt, to taste
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley, for sprinkling
Toasted bread, pita, or vegetables for serving

In a food processor or blender, combine all ingredients except parsley. Blend until smooth, scraping down sides as necessary. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon into a bowl, sprinkle with parsley, and serve. Dip can be made ahead of time and refrigerated until serving.

I leave you with a pic of all three dips at the wedding welcome dinner. Thanks to my mother-in-law for capturing the photo while I ran around like a crazy woman.

Caramelized Onion and Balsamic Fig Crostini

You would think that as someone who loves having people over for dinner (and a food blogger) that I'd be a pro at appetizers, nibbles, and everything else to keep guests satisfied. But no matter how many times we host, it's always a scramble of what to put out while people are arriving and the main event is still cooking. Bread, really good olive oil, and nuts are the go-to's, and good local cheese if I remembered to buy some. I tend to keep canned beans on hand, so a quick pulse in the food processor with some spices, olive oil, tahini, lemon gives me the ubiquitous hummusy bean dip. 

But with a little extra planning and not a lotto extra time, I knew I could make something that I could be more proud of. Taking a cue from a pizza combo I love—caramelized onions, figs, and goat cheese—I sought out to make an appetizer that could come together with pantry ingredients the afternoon before guests arrived or even a few days before in anticipation of their arrival. 

Caramelized onions are in the same category as roasted garlic. Deceptively simple, uber delicious, and requiring little to no actual cooking. The heat does all of the work for you, and the best thing you can do is nothing. You just wait for magic to happen. 

The secret to caramelized onions is to leave them alone for a lot longer than you want to. They'll start to look and smell amazing about halfway through, but they become exponentially better with time. Jammy, nuanced, and almost spreadable, they're a far cry from their raw counterparts. I love to make a huge batch of them for sandwiches for the week or even just to top on grain bowls in the winter. They add instant complexity and richness to a dish. 

In this rendition, I cook them with woodsy rosemary, add a hint of maple syrup to enhance their sweetness, and serve them atop crostini. Toasted hazelnuts and chewy dried figs that plump up in balsamic vinegar are the finishing touches. The best part about this is that the figs and onions can be cooked separately and the hazelnuts toasted a few days before you expect guests and then warmed and assembled right before arrival. The result is a dish that looks (and tastes!) like it took all day, but really almost cooked itself. You're welcome to add goat cheese or blue cheese or substitute a different nut if you can't find hazelnuts. The real stars are the onions and juicy figs.

Caramelized Onion and Balsamic Fig Crostini

¼ cup olive oil
3 large sweet yellow onions, thinly sliced
3 fresh rosemary sprigs
1-2 teaspoons maple syrup, depending on sweetness of onions
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

½ cup dried Mission figs, sliced lengthwise in quarters and tough stems removed
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons water
¼ cup hazelnuts
Crackers or bread of choice, toasted, for serving

Heat oil over medium heat until hot. Add onions and rosemary and stir to coat. Reduce heat to medium low and allow to cook, undisturbed, for 15 minutes. Stir again, and then allow to cook undisturbed for 15 more minutes. Repeat for 75 minutes or until onions are meltingly tender and a rich brown color. If using maple syrup, pour in after 30 minutes of cooking; it will also enhance the caramelization process. If onions start to stick while cooking, add a splash of water and stir. Discard rosemary sprigs when done and season to taste with a generous pinch of salt and fresh pepper.

Meanwhile, bring balsamic vinegar and water to boil in small pan. Boil gently for 1 minute. Add figs, boil for 30 seconds more and remove pan from heat. Allow dried figs to soak up liquid and soften as they cool.

Toast hazelnuts. Toast in oven or on stove top. In oven, toast at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 7-10 minutes until golden and skins begin to peel off. On stove top, toast over medium-low heat, tossing often, for 10-12 minutes or until golden and skins begin to peel off. Remove from heat and transfer hazelnuts to a towel and rub nuts together to remove as much skin as possible. It’s not necessary to remove all, but it will remove a little bit of bitterness. Roughly chop hazelnuts and set aside.

To assemble, place caramelized onions atop crostini. Place a soaked fig piece on top (trimming if necessary to fit), and sprinkle with hazelnuts. Serve! Onions, figs, and hazelnuts can all be prepared 1-2 days ahead of time and assembled together right before serving. Makes about 1 cup caramelized onions and enough to serve about 10-12 people for appetizers.

Winter Toast, 3 Ways

In my fourth and final contribution to Terrain's blog, I talk toast. More specifically, I talk about how it can actually be part of a whole foods diet. (In case you missed the other three posts, you can see them here, here, and here.) We're wired to think of bread and bad, just like we're wired to think of pasta as bad. But, I'm here to show you that one, life's to short to say no to bread—good bread, that is—and two, the health factor of your toast all depends on what you're topping your bread with. 

I'm most definitely a peanut butter and banana fan, and I love a coconut butter and avocado toast, but I also love layering on vegetables for a nutritious kick. I don't need to tell you that there's something so satisfying about biting into a piece of perfectly toasted bread. But if you're someone who eschews toast because of its carb count, etc. I want you to just start to think about how it may not be so bad after all. That sugar spike that comes with eating bread is diminished when it's a nutty whole grain bread and when it's topped with healthy fats and fiber-rich foods. 

For some inspiration on how to do toast in this last month of winter, head over to Terrain's blog to check out the recipes! 

What are some of your favorite ways to do toast?

Grilled Peach Bruschetta with Cilantro Pepita Pesto

The other day, my good foodie friend, Grace, came over for dinner. Every few weeks, we get together to talk about what’s rocking our foodie worlds and discuss other bits of life. Our dinner date menus come to fruition when each of us assesses our fridge situation and sees what we have lying around. We text each other our ingredients and come up with a dish. It’s like Chopped, but a whole lot less intense.

This past dinner, she brought over zucchini, corn, and onions, and with my cilantro, jalapeño, goat cheese, and homemade pizza crust, we made some killer grilled pizzas. As far as the pizza goes, I'll leave her to fill you in. She’s an amazing photographer (who just so happened to shoot our wedding), so she took photos of our pizza-making in action. The base of the pizza, however, was this cilantro pepita pesto, a refreshing twist on traditional basil pesto. I used cilantro instead of basil, toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) instead of walnuts, lime instead of lemon, and jalapeño for a little fiery kick. Because we were just throwing things together, I didn’t measure anything, but of course regretted it because it was definitely a keeper. I told Grace (and myself) to make it again, this time measuring for posterity’s sake.

Although that grilled pizza is most definitely in the summertime round-up, I wanted to highlight the versatility of this herbaceous, bright, and wee-bit spicy pesto by drizzling it on something different. Considering it played so well off the sweet corn on the pizza, I paired it with just-ripe local peaches that I drizzled with a little olive oil and popped on the grill. Peaches that are too juicy won’t hold up in the heat, so make sure you’re using firmer peaches. I grilled some bread for the base as the peaches were going, slathered on some crème fraîche (although goat cheese would be fantastic here), and drizzled on the pesto to make a delicious summer bruschetta that rivals the tomato and mozzarella standby. This recipe is super duper easy, and the fact that you don’t even have to turn on your oven (or stove) makes it a summer winner in my book.

Grilled Peach Bruschetta with Cilantro Pepita Pesto

Cilantro Pepita Pesto:
½ jalapeño, seeds removed for less spicy variation
Generous 2 cups loosely packed fresh cilantro
3 tablespoons pepitas (pumpkin seeds), lightly toasted
2 garlic cloves
1 lime, juiced and zest of ½ lime
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil (for a richer pesto, you can add a little pumpkin seed oil instead of olive oil)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Add everything to a food processor or blender, and blend until smooth, scraping down sides as necessary. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Makes about ½ cup.

Grilled Peach Bruschetta:
1 large peach, firm but just ripe, sliced into 16 slices or 2 smaller peaches, sliced into 8 slices each
1 teaspoon olive oil
4 large slices whole-grain bread
½ cup crème fraîche
Sea salt, to finish

Grill peaches and bread. Heat grill to medium. Allow to preheat for 10 minutes. Toss peach slices with olive oil. Place peach slices and bread on grill. Grill peaches 1 minute on each side or until just soft. You want to get grill marks on the peaches, indicating caramelization and allowing the sweetness to come out, but you don’t want the peaches to become mushy. Remove from heat when done. Grill bread, about 2-3 minutes per side.

Assemble bruschetta. Spread each slice grilled bread with 2 tablespoons crème fraîche. Add peach slices to cover and drizzle with a tablespoon or two of pesto. Sprinkle with sea salt to finish and serve. Enjoy! Makes 4 slices or 2 servings.

*You can use smaller baguette rounds, reducing the amount of topping on each, for party crostini.

Spring Tea Party Bites + My Bridal Shower

My whole heart is so full, it is just about to burst. I am getting married in almost a month, and some of my favorite people got together this weekend to help me celebrate with my bridal shower. We had the BEST time. I will preface this by saying one of my favorite things to do is going to high tea. Hoity-toity it may be, but I relish in the excuse to get all dolled up, sip tea with our pinkies (awkwardly) raised, and nibble on dainty sweet and savory bites with people who just make me smile. I am not one of those people who had ever imagined what my wedding dress would look like or the type of wedding cake I would have, but I knew that I wanted a tea party to make an appearance somewhere in the wedding planning process. 

I was all set to gather around with my close friends and family for tea and bridal shower games, until I stumbled upon Maddie from Madalynne Studios on Instagram. Maddie, a seamstress extraordinaire (among many other awesome things), makes beautiful sporty, modern lingerie and hosts day-long sewing and bra-making workshops which attract people from all over the country. I reached out, asking her about hosting a little sewing workshop in her beautiful studio space for my bridal shower. I was thrilled when she said yes. The plan was that we would all bring homemade tea-party bites, sip tea, and learn to sew something. She had the idea of doing a little "Panty Party" in which we would all sew cute panties while we mingled around. 

The most fantastic thing was that none of us had any real sewing machine experience, and ALL of us made a pair of fancy underpants by the end of the shower. They were bright red, high-waisted in the best possible way, and incredibly comfortable. Maddie warned us that we would all be wearing them by the end of the event, and right she was! Maddie was the perfect hostess and instructor. She was patient with the more perfectionist types and easy-going with those who got a little distracted with the delicious treats we all made. She also was a master troubleshooter when I got myself into a sewing hole...which happened quite a few times. As an added DIY, I brought materials for simple hand-sewn heart-shaped tea bags that looked beautiful floating in their tea cups. 

I must give a huge shout-out to all of my friends and family who brought the most beautiful and delicious tea party treats. We hardly had enough table space for all of the goodies! My Mom and little sister made super-cute avocado and egg sandwiches on pumpernickel, miso-yogurt and radish toasts, and cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches. My bridesmaids and friends made savory frittatas, brie-stuffed puff pasty nibbles, chocolate and red wine strawberry cakes, mini lemon cupcakes, and cookies galore. My future sister-in-law brought the juiciest strawberries from Carlos Bakery, and my future mother-in-law brought tasty Filipino empanadas fresh from the bakery. The photos below do these treats more justice than any words, so take a look for yourself. Maddie snapped the gorgeous event photos in between wearing her sewing teacher hat.

Food and tea aside, It was so special for me to have many of the important, supportive, and loving women in my life all together for the afternoon. Many of them come from different periods in my life, so to have that shared sewing experience was just the cherry on top. I cannot wait to have them all together again in just 32 days when I walk down the aisle (!).

As many times as I was told I should not have to do anything for my shower, I could not resist. I love making things look beautiful, and that most certainly means I wanted to make some beautiful food. Nothing fancy, but something certainly bright, fresh, and oh-so-spring. I made four types of tea nibbles leading up to the event as practice and loved them all!

• Egg and Avocado Salad with Radish on Whole Grain
• Roasted Beet and Tahini with Lemon and Dill on Pumpkernickel
• Cucumber with Edamame Goat Cheese on Whole Wheat
• Curried Chickpea Radicchio Cups

I could not even name a favorite for you- they work so well together. I ultimately decided to take just two of them to the shower given the amount of food others were bringing, and I am glad I did because there was not a smidgen of space left on the tables... or in anyone's bellies!

Without further ado, here they are!

Egg and Avocado Salad with Radish on Whole Grain

4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and finely diced
2 avocados, peeled, pitted and finely diced
1/2 lemon, juiced
salt and pepper, to taste
2 radishes, very finely julienned
8 slices whole grain bread, preferably sandwich bread

Mash 1 avocado with lemon juice and generous sprinkling of salt and pepper. Stir in chopped eggs. Add remaining diced avocado and mix gently so as to not break up the diced avocado too much. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spread on 4 slices of bread. Sprinkle with julienned radishes. Slice pieces into squares or into slender thirds. Enjoy!

Beet and Tahini with Lemon and Dill on Pumpernickel

3 medium to large beets, greens removed and roots scrubbed clean (no need to peel yet)
1/2-3/4 cup tahini
1 lemon, zested
1 handful dill, finely chopped (or another microgreen of choice, for garnish)
1/3 cup sunflower seeds, toasted
sea salt and pepper, for sprinkling
7 thin slices German Pumpernickel bread, toasted or other thin, sturdy bread

Prepare beets. Place clean beets in a steamer basket in a pot with water just to bottom of basket. Steam beets for 40-50 minutes, or until butter knife inserted to beet slips through easily. Be sure to add more water about half way through to prevent pot from scorching. Alternatively, beets can be wrapped in foil and roasted in oven at 400 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Remove beets from heat and allow to cool before slipping skins from beet. Using a mandoline or very carefully with a knife, thinly slice beets into paper-thin sheets. Set sheets aside.

Spread about 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons tahini on one side of each of toasted bread slices. Be careful not to go over the edge or the become a little messy. Layer beet slices in thin layer atop tahini. Sprinkle with lemon zest, chopped dill (or microgreen), toasted sunflower seeds, and sea salt and pepper. Slice bread into thirds and then leave in rectangles or slice into squares. Makes 21 rectangular slices or 42 squares.

Cucumber with Edamame Goat Cheese on Whole Wheat

1 large English (seedless) cucumber
1 recipe Edamame Goat Cheese Spread
1/2 loaf of soft whole wheat bread
handful of chives, finely chopped
sea salt, to taste

Slice cucumber width-wise into thirds. Thinly slice cucumbers thirds lengthwise into paper-tin strips. Divide edamame spread amongst bread slices. Layer cucumber slices diagonally atop spread. Some cucumber will hang over the edges. This website has a great visual tutorial. Carefully cut crusts from bread, and then cut slices into 4 small squares. Sprinkle with chives and a sprinkling of sea salt. Enjoy!

Curried Chickpea Radicchio Cups

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
2 15-ounce cans chickpeas, drained (or 3 cups cooked chickpeas)
2 green onions, white and light green parts, minced
1/3 cup of dried apricots, minced
1 celery stalk, minced
1/2 lemon, juiced and zested
3 tablespoons Greek yogurt, 2% recommended
1/3 cup chopped almonds, toasted
handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 small head radicchio, leaves removed carefully and torn in half (alternatively, use lettuce leaves or endive)

Warm olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add curry powder and cook until fragrant, about 45 seconds. Add chickpeas to skillet and toss to coat. Remove chickpeas and residual oil to bowl. Add green onions, apricots, celery, and lemon zest and juice. Stir to combine. When mixture has cooled slightly, add yogurt, almonds, cilantro, and salt and pepper to taste. mix thoroughly. Divide mixture amongst radicchio cups, placing a few tablespoons in each cup, sprinkle with any extra cilantro and almonds, and serve. Makes about 12-16 radicchio cups, depending on the size.

**A huge THANK YOU to Maddie for also taking beautiful photographs at the event and to BHLDN for supplying some of the bridal shower-perfect decor and paper products. Maddie also blogged about the event here on her blog and posted more photos, so check it out!