Unlike hummus or baba ghanoush, Muhammara is relatively unknown on the Middle Eastern dip scene. This blend of roasted red peppers and toasted walnuts is buzzed together with chile, garlic, cumin, and pomegranate molasses, a combo that gives the already sweet peppers deeply complex notes of heat, spice, and a mellow tartness. This already intriguing dips is finished with hand torn mint leaves that add not only a bit of pleasing green but also a coolness. More

These roasted peppers have all sorts of uses on their own (think mixed into salads or blended with tomatoes for a pasta sauce) but they make a particularly nice pre-meal bite when piled onto crisp rounds of garlic-rubbed bread for these Roasted Pepper and Celery Leaf Crostini. They're finished with chopped celery leaves (a vastly underused green if there ever was one) and briny capers or anchovies—perfect little cocktail hour snacks that work equally well for evenings that are casual or a bit more elegant. More