Recipe of the week: Roasted vegetable muhammara

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This delicious recipe from Imran Nathoo @KitchenClonc is perfect for using up whatever vegetables you’ve got. It is inspired by a Levantine dip called muhammara, traditionally made using red peppers with pistachios for extra crunch (walnuts and hazelnuts work as well).

We waste millions of slices of bread every day unnecessarily, so we’ve added two slices to this recipe to give it some extra body.

Ingredients

2 red peppers cut into chunks, stalks and seeds removed

1 large leek, topped and tailed, then cleaned and cut into chunks

1 large carrot with the skin on, washed, and topped and tailed, then cut into chunks

2 cloves of garlic, skin on

2 slices of any bread

Juice of one lemon

1 tbsp pomegranate molasses or good quality thick balsamic vinegar

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp smoked paprika

50g shelled pistachios plus some extra to garnish

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to finish

Fine sea salt

Flat leaf parsley, chopped

Method

Heat the oven to 150C fan. Put the vegetables in a roasting tin, coat in a little oil and salt, then roast for 60 minutes, turning occasionally.

Tear up the slices of bread and add to a food processor along with the pistachios, ground cumin and smoked paprika. Pulse and blitz to a course crumb.

Next add the vegetables (peel the skin from the garlic), lemon juice, pomegranate molasses/balsamic and extra virgin olive oil to the food processor and continue to pulse and blitz to the desired texture and constancy. A little more olive oil will help loosen the mixture and give it a beautiful gloss.

Taste and adjust seasoning with fine sea salt if required. Serve at room temperature.

To serve, spread the muhammara on a large serving plate, drizzle with more extra virgin olive oil, top with some roughly sliced/chopped pistachios and parsley.

This is great with pitta bread, breadsticks or crudités, or as part of a meal with grilled or pan-fried fish.

• This recipe comes from Zero Waste Scotland. To get tips on how to reduce food waste, visit www.zerowastescotland.org.uk

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