Red Pepper Pasta

We eat pasta about 2-3 times per week. Maybe if we had lived in China or Brazil we'd eat rice or something, but we are pasta people through and through now. The best thing about it is that there are SO many variations you can make, and you can pretty much make a sauce out of anything.

Red pepper pasta is one of our favorites, and it's super easy to make. I learned this one while in Sicily and it's seriously so good.

Red Pepper Pasta:

Serves 2-3 (If you want more servings I'd just add more red pepper and more half and half. Everything else could stay about the same)

1 large red pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
3/4 cup cream (I use half & half)
Salt to taste
1/2 grated parmesan cheese
Cooked pasta of your choice (My favorites with this sauce are shells, penne, or rigatoni)

Chop red pepper and onion into 1/2-1 inch pieces. Cut up garlic clove into small pieces. Saute together in a large pan (big enough that you can put your noodles in at the end) with a bit of olive oil over medium heat until soft (red pepper doesn’t crunch when you bite it).

When that stuff is soft and smelling super good, put about 3/4 of it in a blender, leaving some peppers and onions remaining in the pan. Blend together with the half and half until pink and smooth.

Pour back into the pan with the remaining pepper/onion mixture. Simmer until the sauce thickens more (I learned from Chopped that that is called "reducing your sauce"). Add salt (and garlic powder if it needs it) to taste. You could also throw some basil in there if you’re into that.

Add as much grated parmesan as you want YUM YUM YUM YUM.

Put in the noodles into the sauce and toss around.

Add more grated parmesan on top if you want!

It's so so good and fast! Buon appetito!