Green Tagliatelle Pasta with Roasted Pepper and Garlic Puree
Here is a lovely pasta dish, as colorful as it is delicious. The sauce is a blend of two strong, deep flavors – sweet roasted peppers and earthy roasted garlic. The bright red sauce contrasts brilliantly with the bright green tagliatelle – made with pureed spinach and watercress mixed into the eggs.
Although there are a few steps to the sauce, its very easy to prepare. Just be sure to allow time to roast the peppers and garlic. After the peppers and garlic are skinned and seeded, all that’s left is to saute the peppers in olive oil with thyme – a step which further boosts the flavorful sauce – and then puree them with the garlic. The pasta is tossed quickly with the sauce, and a little Parmigiano and/or high-quality olive oil added to finish it off.
This pasta sauce is a variation on peperonata, a classic Southern Italian sauce. For another peperonata pasta, see this post: Ziti Pasta with Peperonata Sauce, Almonds, and Green Olives.
Heat & Knives
The Recipe
Source: Pasta Improvvisata : How to Improvise in Classic Italian Style
Erica De Mane
about 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
a few tablespoons olive oil
4 large, ripe red bell peppers, charred over a flame until black, peeled, seeded, and roughly chopped [or roasted in the oven - see here]
2 or 3 thyme sprigs
salt
cayenne pepper
4 or 5 heads of roasted garlic, cloves squeezed into a bowl
1 pound green pasta, cut for tagliatelle
a handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves, coarsely chopped
a few tarragon sprigs, leaves chopped
In a large skillet, heat the butter and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the roasted peppers and thyme sprigs (butter lends a sweet taste to red peppers, which can sometimes be bitter). Season with salt and a pinch of cayenne and cook until very soft, about 10 minutes. Remove the thyme sprigs and puree the peppers in a food processor until smooth. Add the roasted garlic and blend until very smooth. If the sauce seems stiff, add a bit of olive oil (you can also add cream or pasta cooking water to thin it out).
Cook the tagliatelle until tender. Drain, leaving a bit of water clinging to the pasta, and transfer it to a large bowl. Toss it well with the sauce, adding the parsley and tarragon. I like this dish without cheese, but a freshly grated sweet, mellow cheese like Parmigiano-Reggiano tastes very good on it.
