What’s for dinner? Roasted red pepper pasta
This versatile sauce will go with just about anything you can think of and it will add heaps of flavour, colour and goodness to any meal.
You’ll need: 1 cup raw walnuts; 3 slices white bread, crust removed, cut into pieces (about 1 ½ cups); 1 large red pepper; zest and juice of a lemon; 2 garlic cloves; 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, divided; ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil; Salt; 250g fusilli (large spiral-shaped pasta) or medium shell pasta; mixed snacking tomatoes, cut into bite-size pieces (about 3 cups); Parmesan, finely chopped; 1 cup basil leaves, torn if large.
How to:
Preheat oven to 180°C. Chop the red pepper into chunks, place on an oven tray with olive oil, salt, garlic and pepper and roast until soft, roughly 20 minutes. Remove from oven. Place walnuts on a baking sheet and toast tossing halfway through, until golden brown, 10–12 minutes. Let cool.
Meanwhile, process bread in long pulses in a food processor until coarse crumbs form (you should have about a cup). Transfer to a small bowl.
Purée roasted red pepper plus pan juices, lemon juice, garlic, ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes, and about one-quarter of the cooled walnuts in a food processor (no need to clean) until smooth. With the motor running, very gradually stream in ½ cup oil. Process until thick. Season the dressing generously with salt.
Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Drain and rinse under cold water (this stops cooking and removes surface starch so the pasta will be less sticky). Shake off excess water and transfer to a large bowl.
Toss pasta with half of the dressing to coat and set aside. Finely chop remaining walnuts; set aside.
Heat the remaining two tablespoons oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat and cook breadcrumbs, lemon zest, and remaining ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes, stirring often, until breadcrumbs are golden, 5–7 minutes. Remove from heat.
Toss reserved pasta with remaining dressing, then fold in tomatoes, Parmesan, and reserved walnuts just to distribute. Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture over pasta and top with basil.
* Recipe & image by Pasta Joy.
