Roasted Garlic and Red Pepper Puree

We've been grilling like crazy the last couple of weekends. The Missus' has been craving grilled mushrooms and roasted red peppers. She'd usually make sandwiches during the week of roasted red peppers, a roasted medium-mild, yellow chili, sometimes called a Santa Fe Chili Pepper. She's drizzle on some Extra Virgin Olive Oil and some feta cheese and be good to go. On one of our grilling sessions I roasted a few extra red peppers, which I put aside to puree, which is quite versatile. You can use the puree as a sauce, or in a vinaigrette, or even as the Missus used it….as a spread for bread. Check out Judy's wonderful Food Blog Tinker with Food, for another great idea.  

There are a couple of ways you can roast bell peppers, you can read a bit about it here. I usually rub some olive oil on the peppers and roast them on the grill until charred, softened, and looking a bit "deflated". I place in a large bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. I also will often wrap a couple of bulbs of garlic, excess "skin" removed, tops chopped to reveal the cloves, covered with a bit of olive oil, in aluminum foil, and place in the "indirect heat" portion of my grill to roast. Conversely, you can roast garlic in the oven. Anyway, I've already typed in too many words for something so easy to make.

Roasted Garlic and Red Bell Pepper Puree:

3-4 large roasted bell peppers, charred skin removed, cut into sections.
1 bulb of roasted garlic
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil (more as necessary)
Salt to Taste.

– Remove the roasted garlic cloves from the bulb by holding the bottom of the bulb, and squeezing.
– Place roasted bell peppers, roasted garlic, and olive oil in a blender and puree to desired thickness. Drizzle in more olive oil if necessary.
– Remove puree, taste, add salt, and stir briefly by hand to mix.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups. I also let the puree sit about 1 hour to "set".

On this night, I threw together a quick meal. Inexpensive sashimi grade scallops from Nijiya were seared, and plated on a good amount of the puree.

I topped off the scallops with wasabi tobiko, and sprinkled crushed oregano and ground red chili powder to garnish…….

To make a vinaigrette, simply replace the usual amount of mustard, or whatever emulsifier) with the red pepper puree.