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Calabrian-Style Tomato and Sweet Pepper Sauce with Pasta
This recipe was inspired by a stewy mélange of cherry tomatoes, garlic, sweet-spicy peppers and extra-virgin olive oil that was served with flatbread at Ristorante Barbieri in Calabria. To make a sauce for pasta, we combine mini sweet peppers (usually sold in a trio of colors) with an earthy cubanelle pepper and add heat with pepper flakes. Cherry or grape tomatoes, plus a couple tablespoons of tomato paste, form the sauce’s backbone. Short pasta with a twisty or curly shape—such as casarecce, gemelli, cavatappi or campanelle—is ideal for ensnaring bits of tomato and peppers.
4-6
Servings
Don’t use regular bell peppers. Mini sweet peppers are more delicate, so they soften more readily, and their skins are more tender. Also, don’t forget to save 1 cup of the pasta cooking water before draining the noodles. You will need some to lend body to the sauce.
35 minutes
Ingredients
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1
pound casarecce, gemelli or cavatappi pasta (see headnote)
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Kosher salt and ground black pepper
Directions
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01In a large pot, boil 4 quarts water. Add the pasta and 1 tablespoon salt, then cook, stirring occasionally, until just shy of al dente. Reserve 1 cup of the cooking water, then drain. Return the pasta to the pot; set aside off heat.