Spaghetti with Red and Yellow Peppers

Spaghetti with Red and Yellow Peppers

I am mad for bell peppers, in fact we as a family are mad for them! They are just so juicy and full of flavour, good raw, sauteed, baked, on the barbecue, stewed - any which way. When I saw this recipe for spaghetti with red and yellow peppers in Giada De Laurentiis’s Everyday Pasta I knew I’d have to give it a go. There is another one with sausages, peppers and onions – and it’s time is coming too.

It is more work blistering and skinning the peppers, but in this dish it was definitely worth the extra effort, because the flavour was much deeper and delicious. I’ve done my usual trick and halved the amount of pasta and left the sauce the same – there was no way 1 pepper per portion would have been enough for us! Sometimes I alter the quantities of cheese, cream, butter or other ingredients a little when down scaling the pasta, and here I changed it about a bit. I’ve left the vegetables and olive oil as they are and altered the wine, stock, pasta, parsley and Parmesan by halving the amounts – if you’d like Giada’s original recipe just up them to 1 cup, 2 cups, 500g etc. The method will be the same for both.

It wouldn’t be okay to use jarred peppers here I don’t think as some of the concentrated flavour is lost in the preserving process, and it’s that flavour which this dish stands upon. I use jarred sometimes, but not here!

Spaghetti with Red and Yellow Peppers

3 large red peppers
3 large yellow peppers
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
4 large shallots, thinly sliced
salt and pepper
½ cup (4 fl oz) dry white wine
1 cup (8 fl oz) chicken stock
250g spaghetti
¼ cup chopped flat leaf parsley
¼ cup Parmesan, grated or shaved

Preheat the grill or oven and line a baking sheet with foil. Arrange the peppers on the sheet (Giada does this whol, I seed and quarter them first), cook until skins brown and blister (in my oven that’s 20 – 30 minutes at 200 oC). Then place in a plastic bag and set aside until cool enough to handle. Skin the pepper pieces and cut them into strips.

Heat the olive oil in a large pan over a medium – low heat. Add the shallots and cook until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add pepper strips, salt and pepper and saute for 5 minutes. Add the wine and chicken stock and cook for 10 minutes, or until the peppers are very soft (Giada suggested 20 minutes here, but mine were fine in 10).

Meanwhile cook the pasta, when everything is ready add the pasta, parsley and Parmesan to the sauce, stir to combine.