As I said, I typically make my meals on the weekends and munch on leftovers during the week. One perk, especially for me, is that my photographs benefit from the daylight. Sometimes, though, I may take a photo of a meal prematurely.. before I have it nailed down.
This recipe is all about the sauce. A mojo sauce. A creamy, yet light and zippy sauce filled with roasted red peppers, cumin, almonds and cilantro. Inspired by Sarah at My New Roots, I used less oil but otherwise true to her recipe.
Reminiscent of my favourite Chickpeas Romesco, I originally ate this smothered over chickpeas with a lettuce base. After an overnight marinade, it was nice. Except I didn’t think it worked that well with the lettuce (sorry, lettuce greens!). I used half of the sauce for two cups of chickpeas, but mid-week I became creative (sadly, without a camera).
It just goes to show you how diverse this wickedly addictive the sauce was… because it was devoured in no time. I enjoyed it unadorned with crackers and raw veggies as well as smeared overtop some veggie burgers (recipe to come!).
This is being submitted to this week’s Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted by Rinku from Cooking in Wincester.
Canary Island-Inspired Mojo Sauce
2 sweet red peppers, roasted
1/2 tsp toasted cumin seeds
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup almonds (preferably soaked)
1 small bunch cilantro
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
juice of one lemon
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp agave nectar (or honey)
a couple pinches of sea salt
1/8 tsp crushed chili flakes (omitted)
1. Preheat the oven broiler. Line a small roasting pan with aluminum foil. Place the pepper halves in the pan, cut side down, and place in the oven on the shelf closest to the broiler. Broil until the pepper skins are completely black, about 8-15 minutes. Remove from the oven, wrap the pepper in the foil and allow to stand for 10 minutes. Remove the foil and rub off the skins of the peppers. Set peppers aside to cool.
2. Meanwhile, toast cumin seeds in a dry skillet until fragrant, and remove from heat.
3. Place remaining ingredients (garlic, almonds, cilantro, oil, lemon juice, vinegar, agave, salt, cumin) in the blender and pulse until chunky.
4. Once the peppers are cooled, add to mixture in food processor. Pulse to incorporate. Blend until desired consistency is reached. I did mine completely smooth but Sarah recommends it chunky.
5. Serve as a dip for crackers/veggies, smear overtop a veggie burger or smother cooked chickpeas in the sauce. Be creative. Refrigerate leftovers.
the taste space 
I think I’ll be doing as you do, making most of my meals on the weekend when I start my new job. So did you enjoy the sauce with the chickpeas (minus the lettuce)? I still need to make that chickpeas romesco!
I love the weekend meal bonanza, Ashley. It definitely frees up my weekdays and helps out when I arrive home so late. I can’t iamgien your crazy commute, oh my! The sauce with the chickpeas was ok, not great (the romesco sauce is way better with chickpeas). But the sauce was splendid as a dip for veggies and crackers and over the burger! 🙂
I always hate it when I take a ton of pictures and then taste the meal only to realize it would be better with a different ingredient or herb or whatever. The perils of food blogging!
I think I need to get some veggie burgers made so I can pour this sauce over them!
This does look really amazing and creamy, and it sounds perfectly nutritious too 🙂
Oh, my! This and the Romesco sauce sound too wonderful. I’m bookmarking both of them. Thanks, Janet!
[…] would be going on top of a salad. I also found out that the Peanut Mmmm Sauce and even moreso, the Mojo sauce were great burger […]