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Fusilli with red pepper pesto

17/11/2023

Fusilli with red pepper pesto is a tasty and colorful dish that brings the flavors of Mediterranean cuisine directly to the table. The preparation is quite simple and the result is very tasty.

Ingredients

  • 320g of fusilli
  • 2 large red bell peppers
  • 30g of pine nuts
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 40g of grated Parmesan cheese
  • 20g of grated Pecorino cheese
  • About 80ml of extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Fresh basil (a small bunch)
  • A little pasta cooking water

Preparation

  1. Start by washing and cleaning the bell peppers, removing the seeds and internal filaments. Cut them into pieces and lay them out on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Add a drizzle of oil and a pinch of salt, and cook in a preheated oven at 200 °C for about 20-25 minutes or until they are soft and slightly caramelized.

  2. Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the fusilli according to the package instructions to achieve al dente pasta. Remember to save a little of the cooking water before draining the pasta.

  3. Toast the pine nuts in a pan without adding any fats until they take on a golden color and release their aroma.

  4. Once the peppers are ready, take them out of the oven and let them cool down slightly. Then place them in a mixer along with the garlic cloves (which you can moderate to your taste), the toasted pine nuts, the Parmesan, the Pecorino, the basil, salt, pepper, and part of the extra virgin olive oil. Blend everything until you get a creamy and homogeneous mixture. If necessary, add a bit of the pasta cooking water to make the pesto more fluid.

  5. Drain the al dente fusilli and reserve some of the cooking water. Pour the red pepper pesto into a wide pan, add the pasta, and mix everything together over low heat. If the sauce is too thick, add a bit of the cooking water to make the dressing softer.

  6. Serve the fusilli with red pepper pesto hot, maybe with an extra sprinkling of grated cheese and a few fresh basil leaves for decoration.

Curiosity

Pesto, although traditionally prepared with basil, garlic, pine nuts, extra virgin olive oil, Parmesan and Pecorino, is a very versatile sauce that lends itself to multiple variations. In this version, the roasted red peppers add a sweet aroma and a pleasant creamy texture, which pairs perfectly with the texture of the fusilli.