I am an absolute fan of Italian food.It’s not just about the pizzas. It’s about the amazing varieties of pastas, bruschettas, raviolis and lasagna.

I was introduced to Italian food during my working days in Bangalore.My love for Italian food became stronger once I moved to the USA. A cousin of mine made me try some of the best Italian food at the best of restaurants.

My son is a stickler for home made pasta.  He loves eating  pasta at anytime of the day. I started making a few basic pastas at home using store bought pasta sauce. I never really liked the store bought sauce and I was irked seeing the number of ingredients in a simple tomato basil sauce.

I started experimenting with a few flavours that works well with red sauce. I started with just tomatoes and onions and then started making some variations to his favorite ‘Red’ pasta. Today’s recipe is one among his favourite.

Here is the recipe for Pasta with tomato + roasted sweet peppers 🙂 Happy cooking !

Buon appetito Amici 🙂

INGREDIENTS:

Penne Rigate Pasta – 1 cup

Red Onions – 1 – chopped finely

Tomatoes – 2 big ones – chopped finely

Sweet peppers – 4 (*i used mini peppers, you can use the normal sized sweet peppers too)

For seasoning:

Olive Oil – 1.5 tbsp

Italian Seasoning – 1.5 tsp

Powdered pepper – 1 tsp

Salt – to taste

METHOD:

I prepared this one pot meal using an electric pressure cooker (Instant Pot), but you can make the pasta on a stove top too just like you prepare any other pasta.

First step is to roast the sweet peppers, I did it using a basic roti grill. Roast till they are charred to an extent. (as shown in the pic below)

Allow them to sit for couple of minutes and then seal them in a ziploc bag and allow to sweat.

Boil a pot of water enough to cook a cup of pasta, add salt and pasta shells. cook till Al-dentè (I skipped this step since i was using instant pot)

Meanwhile prepare the sauce.

**Readers using Instapot can use the sauté mode to do the following steps**

Heat the olive oil. Add the Italian seasoning and pepper. Sauté for about 4-5 minutes.

Now add the onions and sauté till they are translucent.

Now add the finely chopped tomatoes,1/2 cup water and salt. sauté till mushy.

While the tomatoes are getting cooked, remove the sweet peppers from the ziploc and remove the black charred part. It comes out easily like a thin peel. Also chop off the ends and deseed the sweet peppers.

Going back to the tomatoes, once they are done. Turn off the flame and add the deseeded peppers.

 

Allow to cool if you are using a blender or mixer to pureé. I used an immersion blender in my instapot making the process a wee bit faster 🙂

Boil the pureéd sauce for a good 10 minutes before mixing the cooked pasta.

**Instapot users: Add the uncooked pasta shells and 1/4 cup water to the sauce. Cook on high pressure for 6 min NPR**

Hot and delicious pasta is ready to be served.

*Note: If you need a spicy pasta you can also add cayenne pepper or chill flakes