Hot or Cold Roasted Red Pepper Farfalle Salad

Hot or Cold Roasted Red Pepper Farfalle Salad

This simple recipe does double duty as either a hot side dish or as a cold pasta salad; in fact if you make a double batch, you could enjoy the hot salad with a weekend barbeque and then have the leftovers cold as a weekday lunch. Of course you can always warm it up again to have with some quickly grilled chicken, or pork chops as a terrific quick weekday dinner.

The recipe is great as is with the fresh flavor of the roasted red pepper taking center stage but I also like to spice it up with sriracha sauce, hot pepper sauce or even cayenne pepper. Use as much or as little to suit your own taste.

Serves 4

• 2 large or 3 medium roasted red peppers

During the summer months when fresh peppers are more plentiful and less expensive, I like to roast the peppers on the grill, getting them almost black before popping them into a Ziploc bag to sweat it out for 5-10 minutes. The charred skins are then very easily removed and discarded leaving the roasted flavor behind. I have also used good quality bottled roasted red peppers at other times of the year which is very good too.

Skin and de-seed the roasted peppers, chop them roughly and add them to a blender or food processor. Puree the peppers until smooth along with:

• pinch salt and pepper
• 4 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 4 sprigs of fresh oregano (or 1 tbsp dried)
• 1 clove minced garlic

The recipe does not call for any oil but you can add a few tbsp of extra virgin olive oil if you choose.

• 1/2 pound dry farfalle pasta (cooked al dente)

Cook the pasta in salted water and drain but reserve about 1/4 cup of the pasta water. Add the reserved water along with the pureed pepper sauce to the cooked pasta and toss well to coat.

Hot or Cold Roasted Red Pepper Farfalle Salad

This simple recipe does double duty as either a hot side dish or as a cold pasta salad; in fact if you make a double batch, you could enjoy the hot salad with a weekend barbeque and then have the leftovers cold as a weekday lunch. Of course you can always warm it up again to have with some quickly grilled chicken, or pork chops as a terrific quick weekday dinner.

The recipe is great as is with the fresh flavor of the roasted red pepper taking center stage but I also like to spice it up with sriracha sauce, hot pepper sauce or even cayenne pepper. Use as much or as little to suit your own taste.

Serves 4

• 2 large or 3 medium roasted red peppers

During the summer months when fresh peppers are more plentiful and less expensive, I like to roast the peppers on the grill, getting them almost black before popping them into a Ziploc bag to sweat it out for 5-10 minutes. The charred skins are then very easily removed and discarded leaving the roasted flavor behind. I have also used good quality bottled roasted red peppers at other times of the year which is very good too.

Skin and de-seed the roasted peppers, chop them roughly and add them to a blender or food processor. Puree the peppers until smooth along with:

• pinch salt and pepper
• 4 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 4 sprigs of fresh oregano (or 1 tbsp dried)
• 1 clove minced garlic

The recipe does not call for any oil but you can add a few tbsp of extra virgin olive oil if you choose.

• 1/2 pound dry farfalle pasta (cooked al dente)

Cook the pasta in salted water and drain but reserve about 1/4 cup of the pasta water. Add the reserved water along with the pureed pepper sauce to the cooked pasta and toss well to coat.