Recipe - Red Pepper Pesto

3 ounce Sundried tomatoes
1 1/3 cup Sweet red peppers;roast/chop
One half cup Kalamata olive;pitted/choppd
1/3 cup Flatleaf parsley; chopped
1/3 cup Basil, fresh; finely chopped
3 Cloves garlic; minced
3 tablespoon Olive oil
1 teaspoon Balsamic vinegar
Freshground black pepper
Salt to taste

Put the sundried tomatoes into a bowl and pour boiling water over them
just to cover. Leave them to soak for 2030 minutes.

If using canned peppers, rinse and drain them well, and blot them on paper
towels, then chop them pretty finely. Combine them with the chopped
Kalamata olives, the chopped fresh herbs, and the minced garlic.

Drain the sundried tomatoes, reserving the water, and press them gently in
a colander. Pulse them in a food processor until they are finely chopped.
(Don't use the food processor for the other ingredients, as it can too
easily turn them into mush, and you want to keep a little texture in this
spread.) Add the olive oil and vinegar, pulse again, scraping down as
needed, until no large chunks of tomato are left.

If you do not have a food processor, just finely chop the soaked sundried
tomatoes as you do all the other ingredients. It will only take a little
longer.

Combine the tomato mixture with the other ingredients, mix well, and taste.
Grind in some black pepper if you like, and add some salt if needed, though
probably the olives provide enough. If the pesto is too thick for your
taste, moisten it with a few drops of the reserved tomato water until it
has the consistency you like. The texture should be somewhere between thick
pesto and soft pate.

Source: "The New Vegetarian Epicure" by Anna Thomas
Posted to MMRecipes Digest V3 #266

Date: Sun, 29 Sep 1996 02:18:05 +0000

From: Linda Place placel@worldnet.att.net