Pasta with roasted peppers, garlic and basil

Servings: 2
Time: ½ hour
1 chunky red pepper
1 chunky yellow pepper
10 or so fresh basil leaves, torn up
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 oz butter
2 oz freshly grated parmesan
8 oz / 250 g pasta, or however much you usually use for 2 people. Tubular pasta such as penne or rigatoni would be best here.
  1. Cut the peppers lengthways along their grooves, remove the core and white bits, then peel the pieces using a vegetable peeler. Cut them into ½-inch / 1 cm strips, then cut these strips in half to make them shorter. (This recipe is by Marcella Hazan, the original anally-retentive chef)
  2. Sauté the whole garlic cloves in the olive oil until they turn a light nut brown, then discard them.
  3. Add the peppers to the pan and cook them on a medium-high heat for 15 minutes, stirring frequently, until they are tender but not mushy. Add salt, stir, and remove from the heat. Gently reheat just before you're ready to serve.
  4. Cook the pasta.
  5. When the pasta is about ready to drain, melt the butter in a small saucepan, or in a bowl in the microwave (it should be just runny, not sizzling). Toss the drained pasta with the peppers, add the melted butter, parmesan and basil leaves and toss thoroughly.
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