Pasta with Red Pepper and Tomato Sauce
An easy, quick pasta for when you want to add a bit of flair to the classic tomato sauce.
Equipment
- Blender or Hand Blender or Kitchen Robot
- Big Pan
- Chef's Knife
- Big Pot
- Pestle & Mortar (optional)
Ingredients
- 220 gr spaghetti or other long pasta
- 1 big red bell pepper
- 1 big salad tomato or 10 cherry tomatoes
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 garlic clove (crushed but not minced)
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
- 1 tsp paprika
- Salt
- Black pepper
- 8 whole almonds
- 1 tbsp Parmesan cheese (optional)
Instructions
- Start by heating up the olive oil in the pan and adding the crushed garlic clove to infuse for approximately 5 minutes. Keep it on a very low flame.
- Add the chilli flakes and the paprika and let cook for a 2 minutes.
- In the meantime, roughly chop the pepper and the tomato(es) and put it in a blender/food processor. Blend until you have a smooth and consistent mix.
- Add the tomato and pepper mix to the pan with the garlic and spices. Add the tomato paste. Add salt and plenty of black pepper. Let cook for approximately 15 minutes or until the sauce is reduced over a medium flame.
- While the sauce is cooking, bring the water in the pot to a boil and start cooking your pasta. It should take approximately 10 minutes, so it should be cooked at the same time of the sauce. Be sure to salt it before you put the pasta in.
- While you wait for the pasta and sauce to cook, crush the almonds. You can use a pestle and mortar or anything you see fit (we've put the almonds in a bag and hit them with a pan before — get creative!).
- Once the pasta is cooked al dente, drain it and add it to the tomato and pepper mixture in the pan. Mix together on a high flame for less than 1 minute, stirring regularly. Plate and add the crushed almonds and the parmesan cheese (if you're using it) on top.