JOANNA'S FOOD: family cooking, from scratch, every day


Saturday, March 15, 2008

Quick roasted pepper pasta

Yesterday's lunch was the direct result of a blog event, Taste and Create. You're paired with another blog, you cook something from that blog. My pair is Bombay Foodie. Horatio thought he was going to get something spicy for his lunch. But no: Simran does a lot of baking (which I hardly ever do these days), and is using lots of soft fruit, which I can't here at this time of year, so despite lots of yummy things on this fairly new blog, in the end my choice was limited (but that's down to me, not Simran).

And so I made quick roasted pepper pasta - even quicker than Simran, because, as this is a summer dish, I didn't have any fresh peppers in the house. Simran posts useful information about peeling fresh peppers; I used roasted peppers in oil bought last year in Waitrose. And tinned tomatoes. And some leftover roasted onions. Quick and easy, an early taste of summer. And more interesting than the sum of its parts.

Incidentally, Simran made the Mount Athos chickpea patties I've been banging on about - here's her version.

Quick roasted pepper pasta
for 3

Half a jar of roasted peppers in oil
Half a tin of tomatoes
one or two onions
plenty of chopped parsley, or other herbs
pasta

Put the water on for the pasta. Meanwhile, sweat the sliced onions slowly in a little oil (unless you've got some leftover roasted sliced onions - I always make more than we need, because it saves time later). When the water is boiling, add the pasta; by this time, the onions will be soft, perhaps a little golden, add two or three tomatoes from the tin (or home-roasted, if you have such a thing - see below), but no juice. Then add peppers. Warm through.

Drain the pasta, leaving a little water to amalgamate everything, then coat with the sauce. Add plenty of chopped herbs.

You could serve this with grated parmesan, and that's what H ate. I sprinkled it with some of the anchovy breadcrumbs leftover from the cauliflower gratin we ate for dinner earlier this week. It's a new twist on an old idea from European peasant cookery - it's thrifty, it's heart-healthy. And it's delicious with this quick sauce.

Thanks Simran.

Related links

Roasting tomatoes
Mount Athos diet / chickpea patties
Mount Athos chickpea patties, an update
Chickpea mash
Nohutlu pilav
Mount Athos artichoke and potato

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I always have a bottle of those roasted peppers from Waitrose in the larder, I love the flavour of them and they dissolve so easily to make a delicious pasta sauce. Well done for putting a different take on Simran's recipe, a good cook can always do that!

Unknown said...

Your version sounds delicious; and even quicker than mine!

Elizabeth said...

Mmmm. I love pasta with red peppers!

"Taste and Create" - what a cool idea. I can't believe I've just learned about this; I gather it has been going on for a while.

-Elizabeth

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

I like the idea of this dish and the event. I should sign up too, maybe next month or May.

Cottage Smallholder said...

This sounds delicious, Joanna.

I'm determined to find a way of preserving my own peppers this summer.