Red Pepper & Garlic Cream Cheese
Recently while roasting red peppers to make into pasta sauce, I thought that they would make an excellent dip. The sweetness and spiciness of the red peppers are amplified when roasted and pair well with tart cream cheese. I added garlic because I always add garlic. It belongs in almost everything in my opinion. I ended up with a delicious cream cheese that can be eaten as a dip or used a spread.
Roasting red peppers is very easy, they just take some time. If there’s peppers in my fridge that got forgotten about and are starting to wrinkle, I roast them. You’ll peel the skins anyway. Use that produce that would otherwise go to waste! I can use them for this recipe or to make pasta sauce. A quick zip in the blender makes a puree that’s folded into softened cream cheese.
Red peppers and garlic in your cream cheese jazz up your morning bagel. Brush your tongue really well after though. The garlic tends to stick with you. This is also tasty with tortilla chips, crackers or carrots dipped in it. I ate it slightly warm after mixing everything up, and it was tasty. While writing this, I ate the cream cheese straight out of the fridge with tortilla chips. Don’t judge me, my veggie burger isn’t ready yet and I was hungry thinking about it. I bet this would be great with pretzels or in a grilled cheese.
What’s your favorite thing to dip?
Red Pepper & Garlic Cream Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 red pepper
- 2 garlic cloves
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1/4 tsp cumin
- 1/8 tsp dill
Instructions
Roasted Peppers
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Seed and cut pepper into quarters.
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Place on greased cookie sheet.
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Roast at 375 for 30 minutes. Their skin should be toasty and wrinkly. The wrinklier they are the easier they are to peel.
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Immediately place pepper in sealed container to steam.
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Once the container is cooled off (~30 min) peel the skin from the pepper and discard.
Red Pepper & Garlic Cream Cheese
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Blend peeled pepper with garlic until smooth.
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Fold pepper puree, cumin and dill into cream cheese. Garnish with more dill.
