Red Pepper Tahini Sauce with Roasted Vegetables
When it comes to vegetables, you can’t beat the roasted ones. The slow-cooking process (as opposed to a quick pan fry) both accentuates and moderates the flavor of everything from beets to zucchini. The prize for Most Amazing Transformation probably goes to garlic, which turns into a creamy, smooth paste that’s almost sweet.
It occurred to me that puréeing my two favorite roasted veggies — garlic and red peppers — into a sauce would probably be a good idea. It was, especially when I added a spoonful of tahini and a dash of pomegranate molasses. The resulting thick sauce is superb atop roasted veggies, tossed with pasta and fresh herbs, or served with chicken or lamb. (The latter works especially well if you’re making a Mediterranean lamb dish such as kebabs or schwarma.)
Red Pepper Tahini Sauce
In a food processor, blend the meat from 1 roasted red pepper* and the squeezed-out cloves of 1 roasted head of garlic**. Add 1 T. tahini, 1 T. pomegranate molasses (use 1 1/2 tsp. lemon juice if you can’t find the molasses), and a pinch of sea salt. Blend again until smooth. Sauce can be stored for 4 days in the refrigerator.
* To roast a red pepper, preheat your oven to at least 425 degrees F, placing a piece of aluminum foil or a battered pan on the bottom rack to catch any potential drips that might splat from the roasting pepper. When the oven is ready, place bell pepper(s) directly on the middle rack. Roast for 20 minutes or until the pepper is starting to blister and blacken. Remove from oven and immediately place in a zip-loc plastic bag. Seal and let sit until pepper is cool enough to handle. At that point, the skin, stem, and seeds should be easy to peel away.
** To roast garlic, cut about 1/2″ inch of the top away from the head of garlic and discard. Place the head on a sheet of aluminum foil, lightly salt and pepper, and drizzle with a hint of extra-virgin olive oil. Loosely bunch the foil up and around the garlic, folding the foil over at the top to seal it. Roast at 425 degrees F for 45 minutes. Remove and let cool for a good hour before attempting to push out the cloves from their papery skins — roasted garlic is very hot and sticky!
Print This Post
Tags: pomegranate molasses, roasted garlic, roasted red pepper, sauce, tahini
