| CLASSIC pasta | linguine (or spaghetti) with red pepper sauce | |||
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 Time to get those beautiful fresh red peppers into a pasta sauce. And if you haven't tried a sauce with roasted red peppers you are missing a wonderful taste treat. Here it is! for the sauce:
for the pasta:
Roast the peppers. One gets the very best flavor from the peppers if they are roasted over an open flame (the alternative is to seed and peel them and saute them). The easiest way is to put them on a grill over the flame. They can also be put on a long fork or something like that and roasted over an open flame on the stove, like doing marshmallows. First cut the large peppers in half into flat (sort of) pieces and discard the seeds and membrane. Put them on the grill and roast until blackened on one side. Then turn them over and roast until they are charred all over. Do not cook them too long; we want to retain some firmness in the pepper. Remove them, let them cool, and then pull off the charred outer part. Ready. Cut the flat pieces of the roasted peppers into thin two-inch long strips. Heat the oil on high in a saute pan. Add the onion and cook for at least eight minutes, so the onion is soft and starting to brown (barely).. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and oregano and the roasted pepper strips and stir. Add salt and pepper. Add the cream on low-medium heart, Stir until well mixed and slightly reduced. Bring 4-5 quarts of water of a raging boil. Add a couple teaspoons salt. Put in the pasta, stirring well to get it mixed around in the water. Cook the pasta to al dente. Reserve a cup of the pasta liquid. Drain. Add the pasta to the re-heated sauce. Mix well. Add some of the reserved liquid to keep it moist if needed. Add the tablespoon of butter. Check salt to taste, and pepper, and stir. Cover and turn up the heat for one minute to get steaming hot. And serve. |
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