It’s Friday, Friday gotta get down on Fridaaayy! Ugh isn’t that just great news? We’ve made it to Friday. By the way, if you like listening to podcasts when making dinner, I have another hot recommendation for you. Just in case you’ve been living under a rock and have never heard of this one, add The Morning Toast to the list. The girls are hilarious, there’s a lot of singing, tv show recaps, and it’s just a great way to keep up with the latest news and celebrity drama lol.
But, if you’re looking for a drama-free dinner recipe, look no further! I’ve got you covered. The best thing about this Roasted Red Pepper Pasta is that you don’t really need a recipe.. just understand the concept and go with your feelings. The sauce is very versatile, so make it as creamy, velvety, or peppery as I you want. All you have to do is add the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. I like taking the long road to dinner and roast the red peppers myself – it only takes about 30 minutes and it’s literally just popping then in the oven – but jarred roasted red peppers are perfectly fine, too. For this recipe I tried incorporating elements from traditional vegan creamy recipes, so I added cashews instead of just doing heavy cream. If you want to keep it completely vegan though, add more cashews – or cashew butter – and pasta water. There’s no need to soak the cashews, all you need is boiling hot water, but roasting them for a couple minutes is an excellent idea if you want to add more flavor – not necessary though, I usually skip this step.
If you decide to roast the red peppers, I highly encourage popping a few cloves of garlic in the oven as well. That roasted garlic will add tons of flavor to the sauce! Do you see what I’m doing here? I’m taking one very simple recipe and making it a tiny bit more complicated by adding a few unnecessary, but insteresting steps that will elevate your recipe. So basically it’s up to you. Keeping things simple will also result in a creamy, delicious pasta dish and that’s all that matters at the end of the day.
Before we jump to the recipe, a couple extra tips: if you don’t have any cashews, just use heavy cream – I just like the balance and the extra healthy fat and protein content. If you have fresh red bell peppers, preheat the oven to 400F. Place the red bell peppers on rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper and roast for about 30 minutes, or until soft, puffy and charred. Allow them to cool – they will deflate and become wrinkly – and remove the seeds. You’re now ready to go!
Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 oz pasta (I used rigatoni)
- 2 roasted red bell peppers (or 1/2 jar of roasted red bell peppers)
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup cashews
- 2 cloves garlic
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
- fresh basil
- parmesan cheese, optional
Directions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions. Remove from heat and drain, saving 1 cup of the pasta water.
- In a high speed blender add heavy cream, cashews, roasted red peppers, garlic, lemon juice, salt, red pepper flakes, a drizzle of olive oil, and about 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water – slowly add more water if necessary. Blend until smooth. Adjust seasonings to taste.
- In the same pot the pasta was cooked in, add the red pepper sauce and bring to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat. Add the drained pasta and cook for another 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Remove from heat and serve hot topped with fresh basil and parmesan cheese, if desired. Enjoy!
If you make this Roasted Red Pepper Pasta please be sure to leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you and I love responding to every comment. And don’t forget to also tag me on Instagram. I’d love to see your photos!
