Textplates '07 - Textpattern Template Competition Entry

Red pepper pesto

30 June 07

This is, depending on how you look at it, yet another recipe to p@@ss off those pesto purists, or simply one of the best pasta-sauces you’ll ever make.

Ingredients

4 - 6 red bell peppers (depending on the size)
roughly a handfull of pine nuts
a clove of garlic, peeled
good quality extra-virgin olive oil
parmesan cheese
pecorino romano chees
balsamico vinegar
knob of butter

This is how we do it

Fire up the oven (on grill setting), set it at about 220ºC.
Wash, core and half the bell peppers, flatten them with your hands and put them on a baking tray. Sprinkle them with a bit of olive oil and put them in the oven, skin side up, just beneath the grill. The peppers will start to roast and their skins will blister and char (this is a good thing). Once their skins are nice and black (4-10 minutes). take the roasted peppers out of the oven, put them in a bowl and immediately cover the bowl with a lid or clingfoil. Leave them in the bowl for at least 4-5 minutes.
The peppers will sweat off their skins so they are easily peeled. Peel the peppers while they are still hot, it’s easier that way.
Remove all the burned bits so you’re left with nice red grilled pieces of bell pepper.

Put the grilled peppers in a foodprocessor together with the pine nuts, garlic clove, a bit of coarse salt, a few splashes of balsamic vinegar and a generous amount of olive oil (6 - 10 table spoons) and puree to a coarse paste. Now add the cheese in a 2/3 parmesan, 1/3 pecorino ratio. I’d say about a 150 grams of cheese in total will do you but feel free to add more.
Finish of with a knob of butter.

This sauce is perfect with penne rigate or tagliatelle. (I prefer the De Cecco brand)
Any women in the vicinity of the bowl will fight to lick the spoon you used to stir in the cheeses so be warned!