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Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
Ash Tyrrell

Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Pasta

I still remember the first time I made this creamy roasted red pepper pasta on a random Tuesday when I had nothing planned for dinner. I pulled a jar of roasted red peppers out of the pantry, and twenty-five minutes later I was sitting down to one of the most satisfying bowls of pasta I'd made in months
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Total Time 25 minutes
Servings: 4
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 400 g 14oz long-cut pasta, such as linguine, fettuccine, or spaghetti
  • 450 g 16oz jar of roasted red peppers, drained
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 medium white onion diced
  • 2 small cloves garlic finely diced
  • 240 ml 1 cup heavy or double cream, at room temperature
  • 40 g 1/2 cup parmesan, freshly grated, plus extra for serving
  • 1 tablespoon fresh parsley finely chopped, plus extra for serving
  • 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • A pinch of chilli flakes to taste
  • Salt and black pepper to taste

Method
 

  1. Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil and add your pasta. Cook it until it's just al dente, since it will finish cooking briefly in the sauce later. Before draining, scoop out a cup of the starchy pasta water and set it aside for later use.
  2. Tip the jarred roasted red peppers into a strainer and squeeze out as much of the brine as you can with your hands. Don't rinse them under water, since that brine carries a lot of the flavor the sauce needs. Just get rid of the excess liquid.
  3. Melt the butter in a large deep pan over medium heat and add the diced onion. Cook until soft and lightly golden, then stir in the garlic for another minute or so. Keep an eye on the garlic so it doesn't catch and burn.
  4. Scrape the butter, onion, and garlic straight into a blender along with the drained roasted red peppers. Blitz everything until completely smooth. If the mixture is too thick for your blender to handle, add a small splash of stock, milk, or water to loosen it up.
  5. Pour the blended pepper mixture back into the pan and keep it on a low simmer. Stir in the room-temperature cream until it's fully combined and the sauce turns a soft coral color. Let it bubble gently for a minute or two.
  6. Stir in the freshly grated parmesan, parsley, smoked paprika, chilli flakes, and a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Keep stirring until the cheese melts smoothly into the sauce and everything looks glossy and thick.
  7. Use tongs to lift the pasta straight from the pot into the sauce, letting a little pasta water come along with it. Toss everything together until every strand is coated. If the sauce feels too thick, splash in more of the reserved pasta water until it loosens up.

Notes

  • I always taste the sauce before adding the pasta, since that's my last chance to adjust the salt and heat level.
  • If I want an extra silky texture, I add a small knob of butter right at the end, off the heat.
  • I never skip reserving pasta water, since it's the easiest way to fix a sauce that thickens too much.
  • When my blender struggles with the thick pepper mixture, I add liquid a tablespoon at a time instead of dumping it all in at once.
  • I like to let the sauce simmer for just a minute after adding the cream, since boiling it too long can cause it to split.