Roasted Pepper and Ricotta Pasta

A staple of Italian cuisine, peppers are incredibly versatile. When roasted  they become sweet, soft and smoky but I love them raw too, so crunchy and refreshing, although you rarely find them in their uncooked state in Italy as they're considered highly indigestible. As an aside, the Italian word for peppers is peperoni which I thought worth mentioning here in case of any confusion when ordering a pizza in Italy; pizza con peperoni is a pizza with peppers, if you want US style 'Pepperoni Pizza', then you should  ask for pizza con salame piccante. Just thought it might be useful...

In this pasta recipe, the peppers are roasted and peeled before being blended with ricotta to form a thick creamy sauce which is then added to some softened onion, fresh tomatoes and chilli. The tomatoes provide a nice acidity which works well with the smooth, rich sauce and chilli gives a little kick.

This month's One Ingredient Challenge, started by Laura of How to Cook Good Food and Nazima from Franglais Kitchen, is Cheese so I'm sending this over to Nazima who is the host for April. I absolutely love cheese so can't wait to see the round up at the end of the month!



As the theme is Chilli, I'm also sending this to Shaheen for Allotment 2 Kitchen who is April's host of Pasta Please, a wonderful challenge started by Jac from Tinned Tomatoes.




RECIPE
2 red peppers
100g ricotta
half a fresh chilli, finely chopped
half an onion
100g cherry tomatoes
4-5 tablespoons olive oil

300-400g pasta, any shape you want

Start by roasting the peppers. Preheat the oven to its maximum temperature and put the peppers in whole, on a greased baking tray. Leave for about 25 mins, turning occasionally. The skins should be blackened and starting to peel away. Remove from the oven and put them in a plastic bag to cool before peeling them and eliminating the seeds and core.

Place the peppers in a food processor with some salt, the ricotta and 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Blend until smooth, adding more olive oil if necessary and adjust the seasoning.

Cook the pasta in a boiling salted water.

In the meantime, finely chop the onion and cook gently in a frying pan in a  little olive oil until softened. Add the chilli and cook for a further few minutes. Halve the cherry tomatoes and add them to the onion and chilli, tossing them briefly together for a minute or so.

Add the pepper and ricotta sauce, mix everything gently together and leave on the heat for a few minutes to warm through. If it's all looking a bit thick, add some of the pasta water to thin it slightly. When the pasta is al dente, drain and mix everything together well.

Serve with some freshly grated parmesan.

'Mpille - Puglian Olive and Chilli Bread

The return of these Siberian conditions has made me dream longingly of warm breezes, turquoise waters, the feeling of sun on bare skin so I find myself turning again to the quintessentially Mediterranean cuisine of Puglia. I've written before (here if you're interested) about the fantastic vegetables that form the basis of Puglian gastronomy and these take centre stage once more in this recipe.

'Mpille' can only be found in the Salento area of Puglia which is as far south as you can go down the heel of Italy's boot and not even in all places there. Originally from the small village of Sannicola where GL's mum grew up, you can also find them in Lecce, the beautiful Baroque provincial capital but there they go under the name of 'Pizzi' and don't include courgettes. If you are lucky enough to find a good bakery that makes their own, try and arrive when the mpille are just coming out of the oven - the smell of the baking bread mixed with the lightly cooked vegetables is simply mouthwatering and it's virtually impossible not to eat them straightaway, warm, crunchy on the outside, soft inside and bursting with Mediterranean flavours.

I have to describe them as bread rolls, the dough being mixed with lightly sauteed olives, onions, tomatoes, courgettes and chilli but this is woefully inadequate. You really just have to try them. Hopefully they'll bring a little Mediterranean warmth to brighten up these chilly days.



As you can see from the logo, the March One Ingredient challenge is Chilli so my post is on its way over to this month's host Laura  from How to Cook Good Food co-hosted with Nazima at Franglais Kitchen. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's ideas for this challenge.

I'm also sending it to Javelin Warrior's wonderful weekly challenge which encourages everyone to cook from scratch, Made with Love Mondays.

RECIPE

For the dough
450g strong white bread flour, plus more for kneading
7g (1 sachet) easy blend yeast
1 teaspoon salt
approximately 200-300 ml warm water
1 tablespoon olive oil

Vegetable mixture

about 10 cherry tomatoes

1 large onion

1 courgette

olive oil

a handful of black pitted olives

1-2 teaspoons of chilli flakes, depending on taste

salt 

Preheat oven to 240°C or as hot as it will go.

Start by preparing the vegetables. Wash, dry and finely chop the tomatoes, onion and courgette and cook them gently in a tablespoon or so of olive oil for about 15-20 mins until nicely softened. Add the olives, roughly chopped and as much chilli as you want. Season to taste. Remember that you'll need more salt and chilli than you expect because it's all going to be distributed throughout the bread dough. Leave to cool.

Put the flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl and pour in about 200 ml of the water, half the cooked vegetable mixture and the olive oil, mixing with your hands. You can add more water if you need to but the vegetables do add a lot of liquid and actually the mpille puff up more with a slightly drier dough. Start kneading by pushing the dough away from you with the heel of your hand, the fold it back and turn slightly. Keep doing this for about 10 minutes, it should feel smooth and springy when it's ready.

Form the dough into a ball and rub a little olive oil over the surface, so that it is lightly greased. Put it into a clean bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave in a warm place for about 3 hours. After that time, knock back the dough and knead in the rest of the vegetable mixture. Leave to rise again for another hour. 

Divide the dough into about 12 pieces and form into balls - the dough will probably be quite sticky so dust each ball with flour before shaping roughly - remember these are meant to be rustic so no need for perfect spheres! Place on 2 baking trays lined with parchment, leaving enough space between them. 

Put into the hot oven and cook for about 35-40 mins. Leave them to cool slightly on a wire rack before devouring.

Chilli Jam

I have always loved the idea of having a larder stocked with home-made jams, preserves and chutneys but in reality, the demands of a full-time job don't leave me much time for this type of cooking. However, since moving into our new house a few years ago, I have managed to make at least a few jars of chutney each year, spurred on by a reluctance to waste the windfalls from my apple and pear trees if I didn't. The whole operation of chutney-making was so much simpler than I had imagined (apart from my almost OCD obsessiveness about sterilising the jars) that I was encouraged to try my hand at some other preserves.

Although marmellata di peperoncino originally comes from Calabria, famous for its powerful chillies, I first tried this chilli jam in a trattoria in Tuscany. It was one of those rustic places, without pretension, all wooden tables and brown paper mats, serving plain but delicious local food. We had platters of Tuscan meats and cheeses - cinta senese (a rare breed of pig from the Siena area) salami, wafer thin slices of finocchiona, a wonderfully scented salami flavoured with fennel seeds, silky slices of lardo di Colonnata produced from pigs that dine on acorns and chestnuts served on chunks of warm toasted bread, ash-covered wedges of pecorino from Pienza ... The chilli jam accompanied the cheeses and it was perfect, not only, as I had expected, with the more mature ones but also combining wonderfully with the young, fresh pecorino.

My version comes from Nigella's Christmas book. I have tried others but this is my favourite - it's so simple yet yielding fabulous results. I love the clear, vibrant red jelly, with its fragments of chilli floating inside. Don't save it just for the cheese board though - it goes wonderfully with bacon sandwiches, burgers cooked on the barbecue, grilled chicken, cold meats...

You can find Nigella's recipe here (http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/chilli-jam-2692).

I'm sending this over to the amazingly alliterative monthly blogging challenge Tea Time Treats hosted by Karen (of the inspirational Lavender and Lovage) and Kate (from mouth-watering What Kate Baked)  - the theme is Jam, Chutneys, Curds and Conserves. Kate is this month's host and having seen both her entry and Karen's, I'm sure it's going to be a fantastic round-up!