Roasted Red Pepper Pesto

DIRECTIONS

1. Puree the roasted peppers and roasted eggplant in a food processor
2. Thinly slice or chop the onions then add them, too
3. Add the soaked-dehydrated walnuts then blend them all until smooth
4. Add fresh squeezed lemon juice to taste, plus salt and pepper (you can do this with NO salt if you’d rather)
5. Serve with sliced vegetables for dipping (celery, cucumbers, red peppers, green peppers.  Note that carrots are actually pretty sweet, so less of those)

YIELDS 4 Servings

• Fat – 87.1%; Protein – 8.2%; Carbs – 10%
• Grams per serving:  Fat – 45 gram; Protein – 6 grams; Carbs – 8 grams
• Calories per serving:  322

COMMENTS

This makes an inviting appetizer or potluck party offering.  If you’re a sucker for eating the whole dish of something, or you have a guest like that who always regrets eating too much later, then divide this ahead of time into four small plates and serve individual portions.  Naturally, you can make even smaller servings to feed more people, and still make it a satisfying event by doing the fancy gourmet restaurant splash of including an ornamental radish or firecracker scallion, which by the way, are wonderful excuses to play with your food.  But you don’t have to.  Really, the point of this red pepper pesto is that once you’ve prepped all the ingredients, and you’re used to making them, assembling the pesto goes  pretty quickly and can be a kind of kick-back and relax type of special food.

As for the portion sizes, if you don’t worry much about that kind of thing, just serve it all and see what happens.  If you personally flub and eat way more than you expected to, then next time slow down, measure to get a sense of what it is you really “intend” to eat, reflect on when you get that feeling of satisfied but not yet full, step gracefully away from the food and find other ways to be nice to yourself.  Being kind to yourself is a good lesson for anyone, and one that’s worth refreshing.

One final note, regarding oils.  Not every person in the world is a fan of olive oil – to some, it has a bitter taste.  If you’re like one of those, or if you just want some variety, then use organic, low-heat canola oil as a very mild alternative and not super-expensive.  Some people cringe at canola oil, but the poor thing has gotten a sometimes unfair bad rap.  If it’s organic and not excessively refined through high heat and other nasty techniques, it’s not so toxic, and it’s got a lot of mono-unsaturated oil and a pretty decent ratio of Omega 3s to 6s.  Okay, if you’re not a fan of canola oil or you want something more exotic, then try walnut oil.  Or tell us what else you try, and how it tasted.