Description
This roasted red pepper pasta is a summer staple for me; think silky smooth sweet red pepper pasta sauce paired with penne rigate and parmesan. It’s simple, classic, and so easy to whip up on a busy weeknight!
Ingredients
Scale
Peppers & Aromatics
- 300 g or 10.5 oz sweet red peppers, sliced and de-seeded (~8 medium peppers)
- 2 medium sweet onions, sliced into wedges (226 g or 8 oz)
- 8 garlic cloves, skins on (20 g)
- Olive oil and kosher salt for roasting
Other Ingredients
- 10 oz (283 g) rigatoni or similar pasta (reserve 1 cup pasta water)
- 1 tbsp butter or olive oil
- 90 g or 3.2 oz milk or dairy-free milk (I used my house-blend milk)
- 1 tbsp (20 g) tomato paste
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1-2 tsp Aleppo pepper or Calabrian chili flakes OR 1 tbsp fresh chopped Calabrian chili
- 1-2 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, plus more as needed**
- Finely grated parmesan or nutritional yeast for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F and line a quarter sheet pan with parchment paper. Alternatively, you can use a toaster oven at 450°F convection.
- Roast the peppers and aromatics. Add the sliced red peppers, onion, and garlic cloves to the sheet pan, drizzle with a generous amount of olive oil and kosher salt, and toss together. Make sure the pepper skins are facing up and in an even layer. Roast for 22-25 minutes, stirring halfway through, until the red peppers are jammy and lightly charred.
- Cook the pasta. Cook the pasta until al dente, reserve 2 cups of pasta water, and drain. Melt 2 tbsp of butter in the pot and toss the cooked pasta in the melted butter. Cover and set aside.
- Blend and strain the sauce. Pop the garlic out of its skin, and add to a blender, along with the red peppers and onions (plus all the juices), the milk, tomato paste, oregano, red pepper flakes, and salt. Blend on low, slowly ramping the speed up to high; blend for a total of 2 minutes until creamy and smooth. Taste and adjust for salt as needed. Strain the sauce through a sieve over a bowl (optional, but highly recommended). Straining the sauce yields a much smoother, glossy sauce that clings to the pasta better.
- Toss the pasta and serve. Pour all the sauce over the cooked pasta, along with a generous splash of pasta water. Heat the pasta over medium-low heat, toss to coat the pasta, adding pasta water as needed, until the sauce becomes glossy and coats the noodles. I used about 3/4 cup of pasta water in total. Feel free to add a small amount of grated Parmesan when tossing the pasta; it’ll make the sauce coat the pasta even better. Serve hot.