Culinary Couture

I have been persistently dogged my entire life by an inability to go more than a day without completely making an ass of myself. By either shooting off at the mouth at an inopportune time or doing something so incredibly, breathtakingly clumsy that all anyone can do is shake their head, I spend a lot of time in my life doing damage control of some sort. I make amends through jokes at my own expense, replacing broken items that were victims of my lack of coordination, and sincere apologies.

I got together with some friends, M1 and M2, Wednesday night for the premiere of “Project Runway”. It has been criminally long since I had seen either one of them and we gossiped at a rapid fire pace for more than an hour before the show started. In the three and a half hours I spent with them I:

-spilled two Belinis, one of which sloshed into a full bowl of pita chips

-broke one champagne flute (separate from the Belini disasters)

-dropped a shiny, quarter-sized dollop of dip on M1’s rug

It was as if my subconscious was making up for not seeing them in four months; it was a cram session on my klutziness. Wrapped up in my embarrassment was the comfort I felt when it was laughed off, as if this is just an amusing reality of hanging out with me. They see it as part of my charm, and as I get older, I am beginning to accept this as well. Things may be broken, inappropriate verbal bombs are dropped, but it is never, ever dull.

I also find that when I come bearing food, it helps engender good feelings and this party was no different. I came toting a red pepper and goat cheese dip; an evening with Tim Gunn deserves more than onion dip from a can. This recipe was inspired by carrie m, who has asked for a chevre dish. Chevre is just a fancy name for goat cheese and frankly, I probably could have come up with something more inspired, but I needed something to bring to this get together. As I have said before, I recommend roasting your own peppers; they just taste better and there is the added bonus of it being more cost effective. Everyone really liked this simple dip; it is benign without any pungent flavors, so there isn’t much to complain about. I would in no way call this a failure-it tasted very good-but it just didn’t have the wow factor. Still, for a party, I recommend it.

Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Dip

Adapted from RecipeZaar

2 red bell peppers, seeded roasted and peeled

1 heads roasted garlic, pulp squeezed and skin removed

4 ounces soft fresh herbed goat cheese

3 Tablespoons virgin olive oil

1 1/2 Tablespoons dried oregano

1 Tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

½ Tablespoon dried thyme

kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

Place the roasted red peppers, garlic and cheese in a food processor or blender and pulse until smooth. Add olive oil, thyme, oregano, rosemary, salt and pepper and pulse until well blended. Place in a serving bowl; stir to make sure that the dip is homogenized. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.