'Sweet Strip' spaghetti dish

The background to this not-so-cunning creation is that my wife Laura often serves up a great side dish of grilled red peppers, which she chops into strips and drizzles in some quality extra virgin olive oil. I simply love these… as do all our dinner guests.

It’s the sweetness that gets me every time... peppers cooked like this are really a very different taste proposition to the raw capsicum slices you might find in a salad.

So recently this sweet pepper luuurve of mine got me thinking… if I chopped these peppers into finer strips, wouldn’t they go really well mixed in and amongst long pasta shapes like spaghetti or linguine?

The answer my pastaholic friends is good grief yes! Thanks to Laura for her fine-tuning tips (on what herbs to add etc.), but otherwise I’m completely stealing the credit for this one.

Here’s hoping you enjoy munching this spaghetti dish too!

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 large red bell peppers/capsicum (I find red sweeter than yellow or green)

200g/7oz spaghetti/linguine

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Small chunk of parmesan cheese (to grate)

Handful of your favorite herb (i.e. oregano, thyme, provence mixed herbs etc.)

Optional: clove of garlic or chili pepper

STEP 1 - Rinse the peppers first.

- Now grill them under a max-strength grill, turning every 5 mins, until skins turn black (cooking the insides). Allow 15-20 mins in total.

STEP 2 - Pop the peppers in a large bowl and cover with plate or transparent film. Leave to cool for 5 mins – this makes the skin easier to remove.

STEP 3 - Remove the skins with your hands.

- Cut away each pepper’s stalk, halve each pepper with a chopping knife, and scoop out their seeds.

- Cut each prepped pepper into long thin strips (a width of half a centimeter works great).

STEP 4 - Thinly cover the base of a frying pan with oil and pop on a medium hob.

- If using optional garlic, add your peeled, halved garlic clove now. Fry in the oil until brown then remove it (just leaving its taste in the oil)

- Add a pinch of pepper and half a handful of your herbs. Add any optional sliced chili now too.

- Warm through the pepper strips and seasoning for 2-3 mins then take off heat.

STEP 5 - Cook your pasta as per packet’s timings in a large pan of boiling, well-salted water (half a handful of salt is about right per 2-person serving).

- When done, drain pasta.

- Pop pepper sauce back on the heat, add your pasta and grate over roughly 2 tablespoons of parmesan. Then just heat through for a couple of mins, stirring thoroughly.

Done!

To serve: garnish each spaghetti dish with a few of your herbs or a full chili depending on which you’ve chosen to use.

Did you enjoy this peppery spaghetti dish?

Then next time, why not throw some similar capsicums into this nutritious vegetable pasta salad?



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