Red Onion Black Pepper Spread Recipes

ROASTED EGGPLANT SPREAD

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Cut the eggplant, bell pepper, and onion into 1-inch cubes. Toss them in a large bowl with the garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread them on a baking sheet. Roast for 45 minutes, until the vegetables are lightly browned and soft, tossing once during cooking.
• Cool slightly.
• Place the vegetables in a food processor fitted with a steel blade, add the tomato paste, and pulse 3 or 4 times to blend. Taste for salt and pepper.

ROASTED RED PEPPER SPREAD

Steps:

• Preheat the broiler in your oven. Spread the peppers, tomatoes, onion, and garlic cloves in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast under the broiler, turning frequently, until the peppers are softened and blackened all the way around, and the tomatoes, onion and garlic have some black spots on them. The more thoroughly blackened the peppers are, the easier they are to peel. Transfer the peppers and tomatoes to a paper bag, fold the top down three or four times to seal it, then let cool about 15 minutes, or until the produce is cool enough to handle. Set the onion and garlic on a cutting board to cool as well.
• When the peppers and tomatoes have cooled, use your hands to rub the skins off as well as you can. Don't panic if a bit of the skin remains. Cut the peppers open in order to remove their stems and seeds. Rip the peppers into strips and put into a blender or food processor (in batches if necessary) and process until smooth. Pour into a stainless steel stockpot and repeat the process with the tomatoes.
• Peel the onions and garlic then finely chop both. Add this and the remaining ingredients to the purees in the stockpot and stir to combine. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring frequently to prevent scorching. Lower the heat to medium low and continue a gentle boil, stirring often, for about 20 minutes, or until the spread can be mounded on a spoon.
• You may either refrigerate the red pepper spread at this point, or freeze it in single serving sizes, or can it to make it shelf stable.
• To can the spread for long-term storage:
• Ladle the hot spread into prepared 8-ounce jars leaving ½-inch of headspace. (For information on how to do this, click here ) Use a stainless steel chopstick or butterknife to remove any air bubbles. If the level of the spread lowers after air bubbles are removed, you can add more hot spread.
• Wipe the rims of the jars with a damp cloth, put the lid in place, and screw on the rings until fingertip tight. Place on a rack in a canner, cover with hot water, and bring to a boil with the lid on the canner. Once the water reaches a full rolling boil, begin a 10-minute timer (15 minutes for pints). When the timer is done, remove the lid from the canner, turn off the heat and let it stand for 5 minutes before carefully transferring the jars to a towel or rack on the counter to cool, undisturbed.
• When the jars are completely cool, remove the rings for storage, wipe the jars clean and label. Store in a cool, dry place for up to a year.

QUICK ROASTED RED PEPPER SPREAD

Steps:

• Place ingredients in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment; process until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Red pepper spread can be refrigerated up to 2 weeks or frozen up to 3 months.

ROASTED GARLIC, ONION AND RED BELL PEPPER DIP

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F. Place garlic and onion, cut side down, on small baking sheet. Brush with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Bake until onion is tender and garlic is golden and tender, turning over halfway through baking, about 30 minutes. Cool.
• Char red bell pepper over gas flame or in broiler until blackened on all sides. Wrap in paper bag and let stand 10 minutes to steam. Peel and seed pepper. Chop coarsely.
• Squeeze garlic from skin. Cut each onion half into quarters. Place garlic, onion, red bell pepper and next 4 ingredients in processor and blend well. Transfer to small bowl. Cover and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Keep refrigerated.)
• Preheat broiler. Place baguette slices on baking sheet. Brush with remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Broil until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Stir dip and serve with toasted baguette slices.

MELTED-PEPPER SPREAD

Steps:

• Slice the onions thinly, into 1/8-inch half-moons. (A food processor is great here, and you can reuse it for the peppers later.)
• Heat the oil in a large, tall-sided skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onions and 2 big pinches of salt. Stir every couple of minutes so they become soft without getting too much color (browning in spots is fine), about 10 minutes total.
• Meanwhile, stem, seed and slice the peppers into 1/8-inch strips.
• When the onions are ready, add the peppers and garlic and another 2 big pinches of salt, and stir until the juices collect in the bottom of the pan, then let it cook. After about 10 minutes, the juices may have cooked off, so keep a closer eye on the pan, and stir more frequently so it doesn't burn.
• After 5 minutes or so, or when the sound has turned from a steamy bubble to a more crackling sizzle, you'll want to stir about 30 seconds to a minute, to pick up any bits that have caramelized, and dissolve them back in.
• After another 5 minutes, or when the peppers are very soft and spreadable and everything smells fantastic and sweet, add the thyme and vinegar and cook, stirring, for 1 more minute. Taste, and add more salt or vinegar if desired. Remove the peppers from the heat, and let cool. Store, refrigerated, for up to 2 weeks. It tastes best at room temperature or warm.

RED PEPPERS AND ONIONS

Steps:

• Heat 1 tablespoon oil in nonstick skillet or 1 1/2 tablespoons oil in regular skillet and saute peppers and onions about 10 minutes, until onions and peppers are softened.
• Season with vinegar and black pepper and serve.

RED ONION AND BLACK PEPPER SPREAD

Steps:

• Mix cream cheese, onions, garlic, and pepper until well blended. Shape into a 6" log; wrap tightly in plastic wrap.
• Refrigerate 30 min or until firm. Roll in parsley until evenly coated on all sides.
• Serve as a spread with crackers.
• Makes 8 servings, 2 tablespoons spread and 5 crackers each.