Memorial day weekend I was lucky enough to go to my friend Jes’s wedding. Out of the billions of weddings I’ve been to in the last few years, I find that I really love the food-a-ganza at southern weddings. Best part of this one? The picnic the night before consisted of a whole smoked pig. Yes, whole smoked pig of deliciousness.
Yes, that’s the bride, hand in pig. We were told to dig in…
One of the other great things about this wedding was the copious amount of dips at the actual reception. They had hot and cold dips, tons of bread and crackers, and I was in heaven. The following recipe is one of my favorite dip recipes for company. It is pretty low calorie, yet hard to calculate the exact calorie count, due to the changing sizes of the vegetables. I suggest serving it with baked pita chips, cucumber slices, or crackers and then save the leftovers to spread on sandwiches for the week. Or you can eat it with a spoon, which I find myself doing most often.
Ingredients:
- 1 large eggplant, unpeeled
- 2 red bell peppers, seeded
- 1 red onion, peeled
- 2 garlic gloves, chopped
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut eggplant, peppers and onion into approximately 1-inch cubes.
Place cut up veggies on ungreased baking sheet.
Add garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss well to coat all veggies with oil. Spread out in even layer. The colors Duke, the colors! (Yes, this will keep coming back to haunt you.)
Roast for 30 to 45 minutes or until veggies are lightly brown and soft (Peppers should be soft when pierced with a knife.), tossing once during cooking. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.
Place veggies in food processor fitted with steel blade. Add tomato paste.
Pulse 10 to 20 times to blend. Do not over process. The dip should be a coarse with a slightly chunky consistency. Taste for salt, pepper and tomato paste. Sometimes I add an additional tablespoon of tomato paste if I think it needs the zing.
Transfer to serving bowl; cover and refrigerate. Serve cold or at room temperature.
