So I made this a little while back for a dinner party I was attending, and it was a huge hit. It was one of those recipes you end up memorizing mid-party after countless people ask you to tell them how it was constructed.
The creation was actually inspired by a little Italian restaurant in Baltimore called Paolo’s. The food at Paolo’s wasn’t anything to fully rave about, possibly why the place recently closed down, but their complimentary garbanzo dip was to die for. A garlicky mix of roasted peppers, olives, and chickpeas, served alongside warm pita, the dip was worth every dinner trip ever made to the restaurant.
Now that the place is closed (not to mention, I don’t make it down to Baltimore too often), all the more reason to test out my own pre-dinner, dip-making skills. With a slew of multi-colored peppers in the fridge (yes, purple included), I got to work de-crisping the peppers with a little help from the oven. I pulled it all together with some lime, cilantro, cumin, and garlic, a list I have now easily committed to memory with a little help from my friends.
Serve with warm pita, pita chips, or crackers.
Ingredients
- -2-3 large bell peppers, or any variety of sweet pepper (to yield about 1 cup roasted red peppers)
- -15 oz. can chickpeas, drained and rinsed, 1/2 cup reserved
- -1 heaping Tbsp. cilantro
- -1 medium garlic clove
- -3 1/2 - 4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- -1/2 tsp. cumin
- -Salt & Pepper, generous pinch
Instructions
- Preheat oven 350F. Slice peppers into thin strips. Toss with 2 Tbsp. olive oil, and a generous pinch of salt and pepper.
- Roast in oven 20 minutes. Stir, and return to oven for another 15-20 minutes, or until peppers are tender and edges begin to blacken.
- Process garlic in a food processor. Add chickpeas, excluding the reserved 1/2 cup, roasted peppers, cilantro, cumin, and another pinch of salt and pepper. Pulse to combine. Stream in 1 1/2 - 2 Tbsp. remaining olive oil. Add reserved chickpeas. Pulse a couple more times until all ingredients come together, but allowing the mixture to remain chunky.
- Serve with pita or crackers.
5 Comments
The Candid RD
October 27, 2011 at 6:59 amThis sounds outstanding! I bet I could make it with garlic olive oil, and omit the garlic cloves. I’m marking this one!
A Tablespoon of Liz
October 27, 2011 at 10:50 amThis looks amazing! I love how it’s kind of chunky. When I saw ‘garbanzo bean’ and ‘dip’ I thought it would be smooth like hummus.
Debra Lynn
October 27, 2011 at 3:34 pmThis sounds great! I recently got some Himalayan pink salt and organic peppercorns from Sustainable Sourcing https://secure.sustainablesourcing.com and I’ll have to try them out in this recipe. Thanks for sharing!
Michelle
October 27, 2011 at 5:31 pmI cant wait to make this recipe! It sounds delicious!
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