Spicy, Creamy, Bell Pepper Pasta Sauce With Cavatappi Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 Lb Felicetti Organic Cavatappi
  • 2 Red peppers, Sliced Thin
  • 1 Onion, Sliced Thin
  • 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
  • 5 Calabrian Chilli, seeded, plus 1 tablespoon of the liquid they are packed in
  • 1/2 teaspoon Red Pepper Flake
  • 2 cloves of Garlic, Sliced Thin
  • 2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
  • 1 Pint of Heavy Cream
  • Pecorino Romano To Taste
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 Tablespoon of Cold Butter

Method

  1. To remove the skin of the peppers, coat with a touch of oil and then place in the oven under the broilers and cook until the skin starts to char slightly, moving the peppers around until evenly charred all the way around. You don’t need too much char for this. That smokey char is not a flavor I want to emphasize in this dish. Once charred, place in a bowl and cover in plastic wrap and let it steam for 15 minutes. While that steams, prep the rest of the ingredients.
  2. Slice the onion and garlic thinly, measure out the chili flake and seed the Calabrian Chili and leave them whole along with a little of the oil they were packed in.
  3. By now the peppers should be steamed. Using your knife, scrape the skin off the peppers, remove the seeds and stem, and cut them into thin slices.
  4. Now get a pot of salted water up to a boil along with a large sauté pan and get it preheated on medium-high heat. Add a few tablespoons of olive oil and then get the onions in first to get them going. Season with salt and once softened and begins to turn translucent, add the peppers. Cook for a few minutes until the onions are fully translucent and soft and starting to brown slightly. Then add the garlic, chili flake, Calabrian chilis and cook until the garlic softens and begins to slightly brown around the edges. Then add two tablespoons of tomato paste and then incorporate that into the vegetables and cook for 2-3 minutes. Then add the pint of cream, lower the heat to medium and cook for about 5 minutes or until the cream has thickened. Let cool slightly and then blend until smooth.
  5. Add the Cavatappi to the water and start to cook the pasta. Add the sauce back to the pan and get it on a lower heat until the pasta is cooked. Slowly melt in a tablespoon of cold butter and adjust the seasoning before adding the pasta. Then 1-2 minutes before the pasta is perfectly cooked, add it to the sauce with a tablespoon or two of the pasta water, marry the sauce and the pasta until the pasta becomes perfectly al dente. Turn the heat off, toss in some pecorino Romano until creamy and thickened and then plate with a bit more pecorino cheese and enjoy.