Roasted Red Pepper and Walnut Dip

Over the past holiday, I attended a friend's casual post-wedding party. They had a wonderful wedding in Aruba, and threw a party in Ottawa afterwards to celebrate with everyone who couldn't make it to Aruba. While it was a catered party, my friend requested that I make a few dips to bring to the party. I had made a jalapeno and cilantro hummus for him a few months ago, and he wanted me to make some more.

One of the other dips that I brought was a roasted red pepper one. This recipe calls for cumin, and remembering that my mom-in-law keeps amazingly fresh cumin in her fridge, I decided to make it. Her cumin comes from Kermān in Iran, and is extremely fragrant. It just doesn't compare to the stuff you find at grocery stores.

This recipe yields about 2 cups.

Roasted Red Pepper and Walnut Dip

(Adapted from Jane Spice)

- 13 oz. jar of roasted red bell peppers in vinegar

- 1 cup of walnuts

- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

- juice of 1/2 lemon

- 1 tsp ground cumin

- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

- salt to taste

Method

1. Blend all ingredients in processor until coarse puree forms.

2. Season with salt.

3. Transfer to a bowl, and serve with pita chips.

Back to the wedding party, two others were also requested to make something for that night.

One friend made the bride's cake which was a super moist chocolate cake with almond butter icing. I don't usually care for chocolate cake, but I thought it was delicious! The couple, J+J, always call their love monkey love, hence the monkey theme.

The groom was much more indecisive than the bride. He ended up having 6 different cakes as the groom's cakes. Their niece, who just started studying at Cordon Bleu, experimented and whipped up 6 different cheesecakes for him. The flavors that I do remember were: dark chocolate orange, white chocolate, piña colada, and triple chocolate. By the time you tried all of the different cakes they served that night, you had basically eaten a whole one to yourself.