Tuesday 29 May 2007

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.

11 comments:

Paola Westbeek said...

Oh yum, yum, yum, Kelly-Jane! You've managed to save the day today with this fabulous recipe! I am in the middle of studying for my first exam (this Friday) and was totally unispired regarding tonight's dinner. You've solved my problem as I'll be giving this a go tonight! Thanks!

paola

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

I remember seeing the episode of Giada's show where she made this recipe. It looked delicious. Roasting peppers is a bit of a pain, but it's always worth it. I guess you could use good-quality store-bought roasted peppers, too.

Lis said...

Sounds SO GOOD! I've said this a million times before - I could live on yellow bell peppers. I slice them up and marinate them in balsamic & oil with a sprinkle of garlic salt for hours and then snack on them like they are chips! Fantastic!

I will definitely try this pasta.. I can't wait!
xoxo

Paola Westbeek said...

Hi again KJ,

Just reporting in after a lovely dinner! SO very tasty! I didn't have any shallots so I just used normal onions and also replaced the chicken broth for some good herb broth. Towards the middle of the cooking time I also threw in some extra olives that I needed to use up. Thanks so much for this gorgeous recipe. We really enjoyed it!

paola

Amanda at Little Foodies said...

Yummy! KJ this sounds healthy and delicious too. Good for you for roasting the peppers, I can never be bothered and always ask my in-laws to bring many tins of them from Spain.
Amanda

Joe said...

Roasted peppers are so good... and sadly, though it is sadly the only way Jeff will eat them!

Kelly-Jane said...

Paola, I'm really pleased to hear you liked it too! We will have this one again for sure :)

Lydia, I love Giada she is really inspiring, and most of her recipes are light and fresh.

Lis, I like them marinated too, and could eat so many!

Amanda, I've been thinking about healthier weeknight dinners recently. I think the peppers you get are a lot better than the brined ones I can buy! If you don't have to skin the peppers this would be quick too :) I skinned them the day before and kept them in the fridge to speed it up at suppertime.

Joe, so you always have to skin the peppers, but Jeff is a man with taste as the do taste so much better!

KJxx

Freya said...

Yum I love charred peppers! This dish is so colourful and yummy tasting!

Patricia Scarpin said...

Kelly-Jane, I love bell peppers too - I tend to use the red more often because I think the green sometimes is not digested well.
Your pasta looks so delicious!

Cookie baker Lynn said...

I love the bright peppers in that dish - beautiful! Definitely this one has to go into my "to make" pile.

Kathryn said...

Hi KJ

This looks lovely! even I might be able to manage it at the moment.
Oh and the gateau st Honore looked absolutely fabulous!!!