In all houses there are things that are repeated summer after summer. The homemade popsicles in the freezer, the melon with ham as an appetizer or the jar of gazpacho settled in the fridge. In mine it was the roasted peppers: despite the complaints from the rest of my family members due to the increase in temperature at home, my father religiously roasted a tray of peppers a week during the months of July and August.
Processing vegetables in large quantities is something that has been done for many years. In a more efficient way than my father practiced, during the pepper harvest season they were roasted in wood-fired ovens to later get bored and have provisions for the rest of the year. This is something that can continue to be done at home: after peeling them well and removing the seeds, they are placed in sterilized glass jars with their juice and pasteurized in a water bath for ten minutes. After this they can be kept in the pantry for up to a year. If you don’t want to assemble the tomatina pepper version in your kitchen, you can prepare a couple of large jars and thus optimize time and energy (and eat delicious roasted peppers only once a month).
After so many years of keeping roasted red peppers in the fridge, I can say that I have mastered quite a few ways to prepare them. My favorite is to put them on toasted bread with an egg cooked for seven minutes, a splash of good oil, cayenne flakes and flaky salt. They are also a salad in themselves: anchovies in brine, capers, some endives and a simple vinaigrette -if you add the juice of the peppers it is also incredible- and the summer salad.
Crushed with a handful of walnuts, half a clove of garlic, salt and paprika, they become a perfect vegan spread for a snack in the sun, and with a little pasta cooking water and a head of roasted garlic – it can be roasted together with the peppers and if it is not in this recipe, use it in a mayonnaise or spread the garlic with bread and butter- it is a spectacular sauce that is prepared in a moment. If this recipe has something to highlight, it is that it can be replicated with almost any roasted vegetable: aubergine, courgette, pumpkin, beet, carrot. Crushed with some liquid -cooking water, milk or cream, vegetable drink, broth-, seasoned with olive oil olive and spices, it is tasty and nutritious.
Difficulty
The one to maintain composure while the oven is on.
Ingredients
for 4 people
- 3 red bell peppers
- 1 head of garlic
- 1 onion
- 30 ml extra virgin olive oil + a little more to brush the peppers
- ¼ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon of cayenne powder
- ¼ teaspoon of anise grain
- 2 saucepans of pasta cooking water
- 320 g dry pasta
- Salt
- Cured goat cheese
- Oregano
Preparation
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Preheat the oven to 200 ºC with heat up and down.
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In an oven tray place the peppers, the head of garlic cut in half and the onion cut into quarters. Brush with oil.
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Roast for 20 minutes. Flip the peppers over and roast for a further 20 minutes.
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Let cool slightly to remove the skin and seeds. Take out the roasted garlic cloves.
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Cook the pasta in boiling salted water for one minute less than the package says.
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Crush the peppers, the onion and the garlic cloves together with the spices, the salt and a little of the pasta cooking water. Add the olive oil little by little while continuing to blend.
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Adjust salt and spices and add more cooking water if you want a more liquid sauce.
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Drain the pasta and return to the pot along with the sauce. Butter for a minute and serve with a little oil, grated cured sheep’s cheese and oregano.
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#Pasta #roasted #pepper #garlic #sauce