I made this pasta after having something similar at the lovely Prego restaurant in Bristol. I'd never had nuts in a pasta dish before, apart from in pesto, and it was a revelation.
It's a pretty simple dish to make, and once the peppers have been blackened in the oven, hardly takes any time to make. I've used green olives in a Herbes de Provence dressing from my local supermarket but other olives will work well.
If you want to spice the sauce up a little, then you can also throw in a few chilli flakes when you add the oregano. It makes a nice change but I don't think the dish really needs it.
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
2 large red peppers
2 large yellow peppers
400g tin of cherry tomatoes (or fresh cherry tomatoes, halved)
1 large garlic clove
1 tablespoon of dried oregano
Handful of pitted green olives
Fresh basil
Seasoning
70-100g spaghetti or linguine per person
Toasted flaked almonds (optional)
- Pre-heat the oven to 200°C.
- Line a baking tray with baking/parchment paper.
- Cut the peppers in half, remove the seeds and then lay them on the tray, skin side up.
- Roast in the oven for 30-35 minutes until the skins have blackened.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes, then remove the skin (it should pull off easily).
- Slice the peppers into 1-2 cm strips.
- Cut the olives in half.
- Peel the garlic, then grate with fine grater or crush.
- Heat the olive oil in a lidded sauté pan, over a low to medium heat and add the garlic and oregano. Cook for a couple of minutes being careful not to burn the garlic.
- Add the tomatoes to the pan, season, stir well and cover. Leave for 10 minutes.
- Add the peppers and olives to the pan, stir again and replace the lid.
- After a further 5 minutes, remove from the heat and throw in some torn basil leaves.
- Serve over the spaghetti and top with toasted flaked almonds, extra basil leaves and parmesan.
