Main Courses
Pasta with roasted peppers, garlic and basil
Time: ½ hour
Servings: 2
- 50–100g pasta per person. Tubular pasta such as penne or rigatoni would be best here
- 1 chunky red pepper
- 1 chunky yellow pepper
- 10 or so fresh basil leaves, torn up
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 oz butter
- 2 oz freshly grated parmesan
- Cut the peppers lengthways along their grooves, remove the core and white bits, then peel the pieces using a vegetable peeler. Cut them into ½-inch / 1 cm strips, then cut these strips in half to make them shorter. (This recipe is by Marcella Hazan, the original anally-retentive chef)
- Sauté the whole garlic cloves in the olive oil until they turn a light nut brown, then discard them.
- Add the peppers to the pan and cook them on a medium-high heat for 15 minutes, stirring frequently, until they are tender but not mushy. Add salt, stir, and remove from the heat. Gently reheat just before you’re ready to serve.
- Cook the pasta.
- When the pasta is about ready to drain, melt the butter in a small saucepan, or in a bowl in the microwave (it should be just runny, not sizzling). Toss the drained pasta with the peppers, add the melted butter, parmesan and basil leaves and toss thoroughly.
