I love making variations of pasta all the time since I love eating pasta all the time.  Now red bell pepper – tomato – cashew is a classic combination and makes the pasta rich and creamy and grants a beautiful reddish-orange hue to it. Since I had a lot of basil leaves in the fridge which would have wilted if I hadn’t used them, I decided to combine the red bell pepper and tomato for a great colour but also use the beautiful basil leaves for their lovely flavour.

And the experiment paid off. Hubby dearest was home after a trip and was impressed by all this.  He said its restaurant quality, what more does one want. 🙂  If you are in for all the beautiful fall recipes, do try out my Pumpkin  Mac n Cheese too.

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes
COOKING TIME: 1 hour
SERVINGS: 2-3
DIFFICULTY SCALE: Medium

Red Bell_Pepper_Tomato_Pasta
Red Bell Pepper – Tomato Pasta

INGREDIENTS:

  1. Red bell pepper – 1
  2. Tomatoes – 2, large
  3. Onion – 1, medium
  4. Basil leaves – ½ cup
  5. Soaked cashews – ½ cup, optional (I omitted them today)
  6. Bell peppers, broccoli, mushroom – 1 cup, chopped
  7. Parmesan cheese – ½ cup
  8. Garlic – 2-3 cloves
  9. Pasta – 5 cups
  10. Olive oil- 3-4 tablespoons
  11. Salt – to taste

RECIPE:
1. Cut the capsicum, tomatoes and onions into chunky pieces.
2. Preheat the oven at 200 degrees C for 10 minutes.
3. Take an oven dish and cover it with aluminum foil.
4. Toss in the veggies along the garlic cloves onto the dish. Drizzle some olive oil.
5. Place the dish into the oven for 40 minutes at 180 degrees.
6. Take out the tray and let it cool for 10-15 minutes.
7. Blend the veggies into a smooth paste. You could add soaked cashews for a creamy sauce as well but I wanted to make a light dish and omitted this.
8. Boil the pasta in hot water, oil and salt for about 10-12 minutes until its al-Dante. Take it out of the boiling water. I usually save some of that water for later.
9. In a pan, add some olive oil and toss in the diced bell peppers, broccoli florets and some button mushrooms.
10. Stir them and let them cook for 4-5 minutes.
11. Chop fresh basil leaves and add them to the veggies.
12. Add boiled pasta and the blended sauce as well.
13. Give everything a nice stir.
14. Shave some parmesan cheese on top and serve hot.