Roasted Red Pepper Dip

I’m a big fan of snacking. I even wonder if I enjoy things like televised sporting events and movies because there’s often snacking involved: buckets of popcorn, nachos, fried cheese, hot wings, and lots of offerings from the brown and crunchy food group. And for the more plain among the crunchy things, a dip like Roasted Red Pepper, Garlic and Onion Dip in which to dunk them.

If you’re intimidated by roasting your own peppers, you can use roasted red peppers in a jar for this recipe (in fact, with the price of red bell peppers being what it usually is, those in the jar can be more economical). Roasting peppers isn’t difficult, though. Just place whole peppers under the broiler and let them get black all over. You could also do this on a grill. The smoky flavor they get is even better than what the oven broiler has to offer. The method is the same. The heat just comes from the opposite direction.

You may think you’ve ruined your peppers at this point, that you’ve charred them beyond redemption. Trust me, they’re just fine. Place them in a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave them to their steam bath for about 20 minutes or so (you could also put them in a paper bag). When they’re cool enough to handle, the charred skin peels right off, and you have tender pepper flesh ready for whatever application you have in mind.

Roasting garlic is another useful technique with many applications. You just wrap a whole head of it up in foil and bake it until it’s soft enough to be squeezed from its skin like a paste. I just used a small head of garlic in this recipe, but you could use more, or roast a larger head, use part of it, and refrigerate the rest to use later.

Since it starts with a vegetable, this might be little more healthy than many of the offerings in my dip repertoire (or Dip-ertoire?). I even tend to use reduced fat cream cheese and sour cream, because I find them to be a reasonable compromise between flavor and calories. I like to serve this dip with crackers or tortilla chips but celery sticks are also good if you like to take that health thing a little further. Pita chips would also be good, as would pretty much anything mildly-flavored but dippable that you might keep around to accompany your own Dipretoire. Snack on, good people, snack on!

Roasted Red Pepper, Garlic, and Onion Dip Recipe
You could use jarred roasted red peppers and skip the roasting steps.

2 large red bell peppers
about ¼ large yellow onion
1 small whole garlic head
1 ¼ teaspoon olive oil, divided
½ cup sour cream or plain yogurt
½ cup cream cheese (4 ounces)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
¼ cup chopped parsley
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper

1. To roast the peppers: preheat the broiler. Place the whole peppers on a baking sheet and position them in the oven rack position closest to the broiler. Broil, turning the peppers as each section gets charred until the skin of the peppers is blackened all over.

2. Place the peppers in a bowl and cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. The peppers will steam themselves, allowing the skin to be removed. Let stand for 20 minutes or until the peppers are cool enough to handle easily.

3. Remove the peppers from the bowl and peel off the blackened skins. Remove the stem, seeds, and any tough membranes from the peppers. Place the roasted pepper flesh in a food processor.

4. To roast the garlic and onion: reduce the oven temperature to 400 F. Chop the onion coarsely and place on a piece of aluminum foil large enough to wrap it. Drizzle with 1 teaspoon olive oil and wrap in the foil. Remove the outer, papery skin from the garlic head. Keep the cloves intact and attached to each other. Place the garlic on a piece of aluminum foil large enough to wrap it. Drizzle with remaining ¼ teaspoon olive oil. Wrap in the foil.

5. Place the wrapped garlic and onion in the oven and roast at 400 F for 45 minutes, or until the garlic is very soft. Unwrap and set aside until cool enough to handle. Place the onion in the food processor with the peppers. Squeeze the roasted garlic out of the cloves and into the food processor.

6. To make the dip: process the peppers, onion and garlic in the food processor until well chopped.

7. Add the remaining ingredients and process until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary. Transfer to a bowl and chill until ready to serve (it’s also good at room temperature). Serve with chips, crackers or vegetable sticks.

Gifts that Keep on Giving

It’s so exciting in the height of the harvest season when you pile up your winter squash and dream of how well-stocked you’ll be for nutritious, high WFQ* meals in the dark days when there will be little or nothing that is fresh and locally produced.


You make and freeze bags of Roasted Winter Squash Puree with an old fashioned sense of preserving the bounty and “putting up” for the winter. You’re thrilled by the Christmas gift of a chest freezer from your parents that just fits in your apartment but makes this all so much easier.

At least I do all these things. And in the last week of January, I finally admit that I’m getting a little (just a little) tired of eating squash. This recipe, however, is one of our favorites. It’s just some flavored-up squash puree poured over hot pasta and topped with a blue cheese sauce.

I was probably pretty skeptical when I saw the combination of sweet squash and blue cheese in a recipe, but I have since become quite converted. The sharpness of the cheese cuts through the sweetness of the squash, which can be downright cloying, let’s admit it here and now. While these two flavors go well together, neither is hidden in this dish (the way I try to hide beets in other dishes), so if you don’t like squash or you don’t like blue cheese, you probably won’t like this dish. Save your spaghetti for another sauce.

I like sage with squash, so used it here, but you could use other herbs if you like. I also have been known to add a pinch of crushed red pepper to the squash for some extra kick. Adding a little white wine or broth to the squash as it heats up, then cooking until it is pretty much evaporated adds some nice flavor as well. I happened to be without either of those this time, and the dish was just fine.

There are a few parts to this recipe, but you can give each your undivided attention. Just keep whatever you’ve finished warm until it’s time to put everything together. I’ve made this recipe enough times to be quite familiar with it and I tend to play dueling burners, getting everything done without much incident.

Well, my new little freezer is going to keep gifting me with squash puree for a little while yet, so next time you see me, don’t be surprised if I appear a little more orange than you remembered.

Pasta with Squash Puree and Blue Cheese Sauce Recipe
This makes two fairly large servings. I believe it could be doubled fairly easily if you wish to serve more.

6 ounces dry spaghetti or other pasta of your choice

For the Squash Topping
1 tablespoon olive oil
¼ cup finely chopped onion
½ teaspoon salt, divided
2 garlic cloves, minced
2-3 minced fresh or crumbled dry sage leaves
1 cup Roasted Winter Squash Puree or canned or frozen squash puree
2 tablespoons dry white wine or broth (optional)

For the Blue Cheese Sauce
1 tablespoon butter
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
½ cup milk
¼ teaspoon salt
pinch black pepper
2 heaping tablespoons crumbled blue cheese

fresh herbs for garnish (optional)

1. Cook the pasta in boiling salted water until al dente (just a bit firm to the bite). Drain and keep warm.

2. To prepare the squash: heat the olive oil in a medium-size skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook until the onion is tender and just beginning to brown, about 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the 2 minced garlic cloves and sage and cook 1 minute, stirring frequently.

3. Add the squash puree and wine or broth if using. Mix thoroughly with the ingredients in the pan and cook until heated through and any liquid had mostly evaporated. Keep warm.

4. To prepare the blue cheese sauce: melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the 1 minced garlic clove and cook about 30 seconds. Add the flour and whisk to blend it well with the butter without any lumps. Cook for about 1 minute, whisking frequently.

5. Gradually whisk in the milk. Cook, stirring frequently, over medium-low heat until the sauce begins to boil. Boil and stir about 1 minute, or until the sauce thickens. Remove from the heat and stir in the ¼ teaspoon salt, pepper and crumbled blue cheese. Keep warm.


6. To serve: place half the pasta on each of two plates. Spoon half the squash mixture over the pasta. Top with half the blue cheese sauce. Garnish with chopped fresh herbs, such as parsley, sage or chives if desired.

Makes 2-3 main dish servings. Could also make 4-6 side dish servings.


*WFQ = Whole Food Quotient

Indoor Pulled Pork

I believe this is a first on The Messy Apron. I’m going to write about having cooked a large piece of meat. There have been a few stir fries with chicken or with beef, some ground pork here, and a hoisin marinade for various proteins here. Of course I also sprinkle in some flavorful bacon now and then, but a big piece of animal protein as the center of the meal just doesn’t happen particularly often around here.

But it’s coming to the end of the professional football season and I had yet to make a barbecue-flavored shredded meat. I say barbecue-flavored because I have neither the equipment nor, frankly, the know-how to make real barbecue, especially in Minnesota in January. I can still, however, make a flavorful pulled pork, the kind that will fall into tender, savory bites if you just stare at it hard enough, as long as I allow my slow cooker to do all the work.

I made an adaptation of a recipe my mom used to make, often for big family parties like the one she put together when Harry and I were moving from northern Michigan to southern Texas. The meat was very popular, so when we missed our own going-away party because of problems with getting a rental truck for moving (I won’t go into it…you’ll just lose your appetite) it was the one dish that was entirely gone when we finally arrived.

This pulled pork is easy to put together. It requires time, but not your time. You can just dump everything into a slow cooker (aka a Crock Pot) and let it do its thing all day or overnight. The braising liquid is quite flavorful, but the finished product still has good pork flavor, in case you like that sort of thing. It isn’t spicy, but I suppose you could make it so with the addition of some chiles or hot sauce.

For me, most meat is really just a vehicle for spices and seasonings, or a flavorful sauce, so I like to mix this pork with a little more barbecue sauce and serve it on sandwich buns with a side of coleslaw, I suppose it would also be good eaten with a fork in one hand and a chunk of cornbread in the other. This recipe makes a lot, so you can feed a whole crowd of carnivores. Leftovers freeze well, however, so you could also keep a meat-lover or two happy for several days.

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Recipe
You can also make this with a beef chuck roast of similar size. Use beef broth in place of the chicken broth. If you do not have a slow cooker, this can be made in a covered roasting pan in the oven, but I have not done this, so am not sure about the temperature or time required.

1 cup (250ml) chopped celery
1 cup (250ml) chopped onion
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 cup (250 ml) ketchup
1 cup (250 ml) barbecue sauce
2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons (30 ml) cider vinegar
¼ cup (50 ml) brown sugar
2 tablespoons (30 ml) Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons (30ml) liquid smoke (optional)
1 teaspoon (5 ml) salt
1 4-5 pound (about 2 kg) boneless pork shoulder roast
additional barbecue sauce for serving, if desired

1. Place half of the measurement of each ingredient except the pork in a large slow cooker. Place the pork roast in the slow cooker and cover with the remaining ingredients.

2. Cover the cooker and cook on low heat for 8-10 hours, or until the meat can be pulled apart very easily.

3. Remove the meat from the cooker and place on a large platter. (Discard the cooking liquid.) Shred the meat with forks until it is all pulled apart. Serve on sandwich rolls and with additional barbecue sauce if desired.

Makes at least 10 generous servings. Leftovers can be frozen in a freezer-safe container or wrapping for a month or so.

The Still-Great Pumpkin

“There are three things I’ve learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and The Great Pumpkin.” –Linus Van Pelt (from Peanuts by Charles Schulz)

Religion and politics are too hot for me to touch right now (there are plenty of other blogs to get your fix if you need it, I’m sure), but I’m still talking about The Great Pumpkin. Well, maybe not the Great Pumpkin, but pumpkin, and how I think it’s great. Or maybe the great quantities of it that I still have in my kitchen.

I seem to have overachieved in my accumulation of pumpkin in October, November and December, and I had to get back to using it. I think I’m still wearing some of the Pumpkin Pies I consumed over the holidays (specifically around my waist, hips and thighs), so I decided to go with something sweet, but perhaps a bit healthier and less caloric. I was thinking more afternoon tea than dessert and made pumpkin quick bread.

I started with a recipe from Cooking Light Magazine that I’ve been using for years and bumped up the WFQ* with some whole wheat pastry flour (you could use only all-purpose flour if you want). I quite like dates and pecans with pumpkin, so I loaded these loaves up with them. There’s something about the richness and caramel-y sweetness of the dates that make them mesh well with the pumpkin. You could use raisins if you prefer.

Since I felt like I was being so good with this high WFQ pumpkin bread batter, I decided to add just a little bit of bad in the form of a splash of bourbon. Its contribution to the final product is subtle, but I think it adds some complexity, especially with a bite of gooey date. You could leave it out and probably not miss it, and it would be ludicrous to go out and by a bottle of bourbon just to make this bread. Or perhaps a bottle of bourbon would be just the right thing to accompany a daring discussion of religion and politics with a side of pumpkin bread.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Quick Bread with Dates and Pecans Recipe
based on a recipe in Cooking Light Magazine

2 tablespoons canola or other neutral-tasting oil
3 large eggs
15 ounces (about 425 g) pumpkin puree (canned is fine)
1/3 cup milk
2 tablespoons (30 ml) bourbon (optional)
1 cup (about 4 ounces or 125 g) all-purpose flour
1 cup (about 4 ounces or 125 g) whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup (about 4 ounces or 125 g) rolled oats
1 cup (about 7 ounces or about 200g) brown sugar
2 teaspoons (10 ml) baking powder
½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) baking soda
2 teaspoons (10 ml) ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) salt
1 cup (about 250 ml) chopped pitted dates
1 cup (about 250 ml) chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Grease or oil two 8 x 4-inch bread pans or spray them well with cooking spray.

2. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the eggs and oil until well combined. Add the pumpkin, milk and bourbon if using. Whisk until well combined.

3. In a large bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, whole wheat pastry flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir together with a whisk until the ingredients are evenly distributed and there are no large lumps of brown sugar.

4. Make a hole or well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour in the egg mixture.

Stir with a large spoon or rubber spatula until most of the dry ingredients are moistened. (Some unmoistened flour is okay, since the batter will get stirred further when you add the remaining ingredients.)

5. Add the dates and pecans and stir to evenly distribute them. Try not to mix too vigorously or the bread may become tough.

6. Spoon the batter into the prepared bread pans, evenly distributing it between them.

Place them in the preheated oven and bake at 350 F for about 50 minutes. If you wish, you can insert a wooden pick into the bread to test for doneness. It the pick comes out with no wet batter on it, it is done.

7. Cool the loaves in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove the loaves from the pans and cool on the wire racks. They are pretty good when still a little warm.

This recipe makes two loaves, but they are shallower than a standard loaf. To freeze a loaf or part of a loaf, wrap it well in plastic wrap and place in a freezer bag or other freezer safe container.


* WFQ = Whole Food Quotient