Yellow pepper spread

Packing school lunches: I don't do it anymore. Hooray! I have somehow successfully managed to pawn it off on the husband (pat self on the back, feeling very proud of it). I have to admire him - he lovingly packs them a sandwich every day of the week. Not any ordinary sandwich; it is chock full of veggies; each of them artistically cut and chosen carefully for flavor and texture. The carrots are julienned, the cukes cut lengthwise, sunflower seeds and sprouts added for crunch, lettuce or savoy cabbage leaves added for cool. The sandwich is beautiful to look at; if you cut it in half you can see the layers arranged neatly.  And if I ask nicely, I get a sandwich sometimes to take to work too.

The only school lunch chore that is assigned to me is to make sure that there are sandwich spreads ready for the week. So far it has been a rotation of hummus, muhummara, muktabal, harissa, The yellow bell peppers needed to be used up and I came up with this spread. Great as a sandwich spread or as a dip for crudites.

Yellow bell pepper dip ( makes enough to fill a 8oz and a 4 oz mason jar_
by me

1 huge yellow bell pepper (roughly 2 cups chopped)

4 cloves garlic 

3 small jalapeños
1/2 tsp salt or to taste

1/4 cup olive oil

1/3 cup sesame seeds, toasted 

Couple of glugs of red wine vinegar 

Chop the peppers and the garlic coarsely. Add the olive oil to a small sauce pan. Add all the peppers and the garlic. Add salt on cook on a low flame. You want the peppers to sweat in the olive oil; not get charred on high heat. Cook for 12 to 15 minutes until the peppers have softened. Turn of the heat and leave the peppers to infuse into the oil.

While the peppers are cooking toast the sesame seeds in a dry skillet. You want them to just color ever so lightly.

Put the pepper mixture along with any remaining olive oil and the sesame seeds  in a blender jar. Add a couple of glugs (2 tbsp) of red wine vinegar and bled to a smooth paste. Taste and adjust - you might need a dash more salt or vinegar.