Get ready for some roasted red pepper and pine nut pasta perfection, y'all! That's some delicious alliteration. I used
The Pioneer Woman's recipe, which I really loved. I've made roasted red pepper pasta sauce before with olive oil, but this sauce was much more flavorful and decadent with a bit of cream (yum), pine nuts, sauteed onions and garlic.
Here's what you'll need:
3/4 lb penne pasta (I like penne best for this because the sauce really clings to it.)
2 red bell peppers (have to be red, folks)
2 cloves of garlic
1 small onion
extra virgin olive oil
3 T pine nuts
1/2 c heavy cream (decadent, I know!)
parmesan & basil (to garnish)
It makes about 4 servings. If you're Texan, well, let's call it 3.
Take a small onion...
...and peel and finely dice it. You'll also want to finely mince 2 cloves of garlic.
Heat about 2T evoo in a deep pan on medium-low...
Saute onion and garlic slowly with a little s&p for about 10 minutes, until soft.
Get your bell peppers rinsed and ready to be broiled in the oven. You may want to give 'em a pep talk. Broil (with - it may go without saying - your oven on "broil"), turning frequently, for about 10 minutes until charred on all sides.
They should look burned. Burned = flavor (except later on in this recipe...you'll see.) Let them cool for a few minutes.
Put the roasted peppers in a large ziplock bag and seal it. You're essentially giving them their own little sauna so you can peel them easily later. This is a good time to cook your pasta in boiling, salted water until al dente (about 8 minutes).
Then, toast your pine nuts in a dry skillet on medium heat. I urge you not to change your Facebook status whilst doing this, otherwise they'll look like mine did. In this case, burnt does not translate to flavor. Burnt = burnt.
Let's try that again...they'll only take a few minutes to toast, so turn them often and just get a light brown on them (like this picture).
Peel those gorgeous red peppers, deseed them and roughly chop.
Puree in a food processor or blender with 2T of the toasted pine nuts (you'll use the rest of the pine nuts as a garnish).
It will get velvety but still have some texture to it. Such a gorgeous color! Add this puree to the onions and garlic, season with s&p and cook together for a few minutes.
Then add 1/2 c heavy cream...
...and some chopped basil and cook together for a few minutes. Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and toss together. Adjust s&p as needed. Top with more basil, whole pine nuts and parmesan shavings.
The result: creamy, hearty roasted red pepper pasta that will make you want to do a little happy dance. It's possible I did one. Okay, highly probable. :)
Bon appetit!
lilrevchef
