March 30, 2011

Cooking From the Pantry: Roasted Pepper Pasta

Okay, I've made this twice now,  and one of the days I made it was full to the brim of an impromptu vehicle purchase, four pee-pee accidents (not in my pants, in case you were wondering) and two poop accidents (also not in my pants. In the vault at the bank, as a matter of fact. Which was awesome, let me tell you.)

I can therefore assure you that it is not only a cheap and flexible recipe(a good thing, here at the end of The $34.27 Challenge), but it also will not make your brain explode at the end of a difficult day.


Like I said, this recipe is pretty flexible. There's measurements below, but essentially you need peppers (any colour but green), garlic, some kind of onion, butter, olive oil, half a lemon and some pasta.

Or, to be more official:

2 red, yellow or orange bell peppers 450 g pasta
2 Tbs butter 2 tsp lemon zest
2 Tbs olive oil juice from 1/2 a lemon
1 large clove of garlic, chopped 2 Tbs pasta cooking water
1/4 cup chopped green onions salt and pepper

Cut the peppers in half, take out the seeds and bash them with the palm of your hand to make them lie flat. Roast them under the broiler until they look like this:


It will probably take ten minutes or so. While that's happening, melt the butter with olive oil in a big, deep skillet, with enough room for the pasta you're using. Over medium-low heat, saute the onion and garlic until the butter is brown and the whole thing smells like the best garlic bread you've ever eaten.


Once the peppers are cool enough to touch, peel off as much of the skin as you can and roughly chop them. While you're at it, zest that lemon too. Oh yeah, and cook your pasta (don't forget to scoop out some of the cooking water before you drain it).


Now throw in everything else: the pasta, the lemon juice and zest, the cooking water, and the chopped peppers.


Mix it up together until it's all warmed through, and the pasta is covered with buttery goodness. Add salt and pepper, and more butter if you need it. Or olive oil, if that's how you roll.

Stop for a second and admire it.


Eat. (This could have served four adults. But it served two adults and one toddler. And she didn't eat very much)