Roasted Eggplant, Red Pepper and Artichoke Dip
With New Year celebrations still a couple of days ahead many of us are still in the midst of the annual holiday foods extravaganza. I thought it might be fun to share this Roasted Eggplant, Red Pepper and Artichoke Dip, a lighter, healthier party appetizer.
A wee touch of freshly grated Parmesan provides just a little salt balance pop combined with some healthy veg based ingredients for lots of tasty flavor in the noshing.
You can serve it up with some bread-sticks for dipping, or baguette slices and crackers for spreading, its all up to you. Any leftover may be tossed with some small shaped pasta, or even used as a sandwich condiment.
While this dip is lovely any time of the year, this colorful mix may help you enjoy the final holiday splurge while providing for some lighter, healthier options.
Roasted Eggplant, Red Pepper and Artichoke Dip, a lighter, healthier party appetizer
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon canola oil for greasing the gratin dish
- For Preparing the Eggplant:
- 1 medium large sized eggplant, peeled, cut into small cubes
- 3-4 tablespoons olive oil
- couple pinches each coarse kosher salt and cracked black pepper
- For Preparing the Roasted Red Peppers:
- 2 medium sized red bell peppers
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
- 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon red wine vinegar
- good pinch or two coarse kosher salt and cracked black pepper, more to taste
- For Assembling the Dip:
- 2-3 artichokes, chopped (canned or jarred)
- 3-4 tablespoons fresh grated Parmesan cheese
- 4 heaping tablespoons fresh chopped parsley, 1 tablespoon reserved
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a medium sized gratin dish with oil
- Set eggplant cubes on a parchment lined baking sheet, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper, roast around forty minutes or longer, stirring once or twice in between until eggplant is very soft, transfer to a shallow bowl, mash coarsely using a potato masher or fork, sprinkle with a pinch each of salt and pepper
- On a small baking sheet lined with parchment paper, toss red peppers with olive oil, salt and pepper, roast around forty-five minutes, more or less, until peppers begin blistering, remove from oven, place peppers into a paper or plastic bag to steam and cool around ten minutes, remove stem, skins and seeds, lightly rinse in water scraping out any additional seeds hidden in crevices, dry gently with paper toweling. Set roasted peppers on a cutting board, cut into thin strips then chop. Toss chopped pepper with the garlic, hot pepper flakes, red wine vinegar, a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Assembling the Dip: Stir eggplant into the red pepper mixture along with the artichokes, Parmesan cheese and 3 tablespoons of the parsley. Spoon dip into the greased gratin dish, cover with aluminum foil, set on top of a baking sheet and place into oven for twenty minutes until warmed through, remove aluminum foil, cook another ten minutes, or until hot through, sprinkle over the reserved parsley, serve hot or warm alongside bread sticks, baguette slices, or crackers
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