Day 155: Quick red pepper and pesto focaccia and Instant dips

Ok, when I make vegetarian dishes, they have to come with a warning; that is, of course, if there are guests in the house; not that Dear Sister No.1 and the brother-in-law are guests but you know what I mean. So, normally, I don’t tell Dear Husband that the dish is vegetarian and hope that he doesn’t notice (as if!) but I did do well with the risotto a while back. Remember how he said it tasted lovely and ‘chickeny’?! Well, there was no chance of that happening this evening as there was absolutely no scope for pretending there was any kind of meat in today’s recipes. I actually made two and they were Quick red pepper and pesto focaccia and Instant dips.

For the Quick red pepper and pesto focaccia, I prepared a Swiss roll tin by brushing it with olive oil. In a large bowl, I sifted in (well actually, Dear Son did) plain flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda. I then made a well in the centre and added buttermilk, chopped preserved peppers and a tablespoon of pesto. Making a claw with my hand, I brought the dough together and then lifted it out onto a floured surface and shaped it so that it would fit into the tin. I then sprinkled some sea salt on top but forgot to drizzle more olive oil on top before putting it in the oven for 30 minutes.

While the bread was cooking, I made the three Instant dips which consisted of Bean dip, Red pepper and chickpea dip and Sun-dried tomato dip and here’s what I did…

For the Bean dip, I used my food processor to whiz a can of cannellini beans, a clove of garlic, chopped rosemary leaves, olive oil and salt and black pepper together. For the Red pepper and chickpea dip, I whizzed a tin of chickpeas, preserved red peppers, olive oil and salt and pepper together. Finally, for the Sun-dried tomato dip, I whizzed up a jar of cherry sun-dried tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, pine nuts and salt and pepper.

To serve up, I poured each dip into separate bowls and, for the focaccia, I drizzled it with olive oil and then sliced it.

The focaccia

The focaccia and instant dips



 

The verdict…

It’s safe to say that we all loved the focaccia. I was very proud of myself as I really think it was the first time that I made my own bread. I had always held it in my mind as being too complicated and I’d probably mess it up. Thankfully though, this one turned out fine. Overall, the scores were as follows: Dear Sister No.1 – 8 marks out of 10; Dear Brother-in-Law No.1 (he now needs a number seeing as I now have a second brother-in-law as of 15 September) – 5 marks; Dear Husband – 4 marks; me – 8 marks. Yes, I agreed totally with my sister. I really loved these recipes. So, even though, the recipes didn’t score highly with either of the meat-loving men, it scored very well with the girls. Even Baby Daughter ate the bread but it was a no from Dear Son.

Overall, I was really impressed with these recipes and despite the boys not being fans, these two recipes are going on The List. They are definitely ones for the girls. I think they are perfect for Sunday brunch. The recipes might be good as a starter too but, honestly, I know I would eat too much bread and dips and spoil my main course. Everything was easy to make and although there were quite a few ingredients and combinations to get through, it was all definitely worth it. It was also nice to just put everything out on the table and everyone could grab what they wanted. The Bean dip was the least favourite of everyone’s and the Sun-dried tomato dip was the favourite. Yes, bread – I love it and, now that I can make my own, I am on one rung of the bread-making ladder and that’s not a bad place to be…