Pasta with Roasted Pepper and Onion Sauce with Basil Oil or Shreds

This dish relies on a couple basics that share the same technique-grilling. The sauce could be made the day before and all you’d have to do is come home, make pasta and heat sauce, then toss together.

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 – 1 pound orecchiette, gnoccheti sardi, castellane, cascarecce, campanelle, or cavatappi (something shaped to hold the loose sauce and additions)

1 cup pasta water reserved after cooking pasta

4 medium to large peppers

1 small brown onion

3-4 medium cloves of garlic, skin on

1 sprig marjoram, leaves only

Salt and pepper to taste, and salt for pasta water

Olive oil as needed

Water as needed

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, or as needed

Basil Oil to taste or 10 basil leaves chiffonade

2 cups sugar snap peas sliced ¼ inch on the diagonal, or frozen pens, allowed to sit at room temperature 10 minutes*

METHOD:

Cook the peppers and onion according to the recipes on the site (Basic Grilled or “Roasted” Onions and Basic Roasted Peppers). At the same time, cook the garlic cloves at the edge of the grill or roasting pan until the skins are darkened a little and the flesh is softened. This takes 8-15 minutes.

When the onion and peppers are scraped, skinned, and seeded, coarsely chop them and add to a blender. Peel the garlic and add to the blender with the marjoram leaves and vinegar. Add a tablespoon of oil and season with salt and pepper.

Start on low and pureé until smooth, working the speed up as needed. If the vegetables are balky about starting, add a little bit of water at a time until everything starts. Use only enough liquid to get vegetables moving in blender. (A Vitamix is perfect here as you will not need to thin it at all. Do not thin out, as pasta water will be used for this later.) Taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary.

Heat water for pasta. When boiling, add enough salt so you can taste it in the water. Cook pasta until almost done, about 1 minute away from being perfect. Remove one cup of pasta water and reserve. Add the sugar snaps or peas and cook 1 minute more. Drain pasta and peas.

Add sauce to pot, add pasta, and stir. Add reserved pasta water as needed to thin the pepper/onion pureé to a sauce like consistency.

Transfer to a bowl and drizzle with basil oil, or scatter with half the basil chiffonade and stir in, then scatter the rest over the bowl of pasta.

Chef’s Notes: *Quality frozen peas are a sure thing when it comes to consistency and flavor. And let’s face, when it comes to ease of use, few vegetables are more user-friendly than frozen peas.

This sauce is great for grilled fish or chicken, or tossing with shrimp. You can cut the recipe in half and use the sauce in a squeeze-bottle for restaurant style garnishing, or just put down a ladleful on the plate, smear it into a circle, then place vegetables or a protein in the center and drizzle with basil oil and surround with garnish. Add Pimenton de la Vera to the pureé, and then some coarsely chopped almonds for a Spanish twist. You could even use this for a take on Patatas Bravas. Combine with some sherry vinaigrette for an unusual salad dressing.

Serves: 4

Source: Chef Andrew E Cohen