Friday, November 18, 2011

Twelve Days of Appetizers :: Roasted Red Pepper Tapenade

Ah the holidays.  Such a wonderful time filled with friends, family, joy, and the inevitable panic and stress associated with hosting a holiday gathering.  As a vegetarian, I gravitate now toward the appetizer table and fill in the gaps with some slices of pie.  Yum.  And even outside of a holiday party, I often will choose an appetizer to be my main course at a restaurant, or I'll have "app night" and make all snacky foods for dinner.  YUM.  But surprisingly, the recipe page of my blog is lacking in available appetizers.  And for those of you gearing up for the holidays, that just won't do!  So I present to you: The Twelve Days of Appetizers!  I will try my hardest to post twelve stellar appetizer recipes so that you can have a large variety to choose from come your holiday party. 

A quick disclaimer: some of these I will have made in the past and therefore I won't have any pictures of the final dish to share.  But I'll throw in some other pictures, just for added intrigue!  And the First Day of Appetizers is one such recipe.  Instead of a partridge in a pear tree, feast your palates on this delicious roasted red pepper tapenade!  It's easy to make and calls for a lot of things that you might have standard in your pantry.  I call on this recipe whenever I need a quick dip to share, and it's red so it's perfect for the holidays!

Roasted Red Pepper Tapenade
serves a party of about 8-10 as an appetizer

Ingredients
1-16oz jar roasted red peppers, drained & chopped
1-6oz jar marinated artichokes, drained & chopped (if marinated in oil, reserve the oil)
1 cup minced cilantro
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup olive oil (or the olive oil from the marinated artichokes)
1/3 cup capers, drained
4 cloves chopped garlic
1 tbls fresh lemon juice
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions
Throw all of the ingredients into a food processor, process until slightly smooth.  Taste and adjust the seasonings.  Spoon into a bowl and serve with toasted baguette slices or flatbread!

See -- told you it was easy!

No comments:

Post a Comment