This month I was assigned a really wonderful blog - Fried Ice and Donut Holes. Melissa is the author, photographer, editor of this beautiful blog and is a teacher. I was curious about the name of her blog - at first glance I thought it was Fried RICE, and then realized it was Fried ICE. Donut holes, sign me up, but can you even fry ice? The answer of course is no. When Melissa was young, her grandpa used to threaten her and her siblings with this for dinner if they didn't behave. Me, I threaten my grandchildren with kale smoothies. They're ages 5 - 11 and they've never tried one, but they want to make sure they never do.
Melissa's blog was a great blog to sift through because she has 107, yes 107, vegetarian recipes! Her desserts and breads looked great too, I'm dying to try her Dark and Stormy Chocolate Cake - it has molasses, Dark Rum, and lime zest in it! - but we're off to Hawaii TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY!!!!!!! and I'm yearning for the bathing suits of the 1920's. You know the ones, they were baggy and covered your entire body down to your knees - but super-cute bathing caps. I kept thinking I'd lose 10 pounds, at least, but somehow I only thought about it when I had guilty thoughts after I ate a bunch of chocolate straight up from the bag, or the chocolate chip cookies from Peet's Coffee shop, a dangerously short 5 block walk from the house. But the next special occasion - I'm thinking my husband's birthday in July - that cake is getting made.
I was in a pasta mood this month, another reason I need a 1920's era bathing suit, and had some delectable choices - Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna Rolls, perfect for next fall or winter, Fresh Corn Ravioli with Herb Cream Sauce, which I'm totally making when the corn comes into the local Farmer's markets, and her Free Form Vegetarian Lasagna. But I settled on her Roasted Red Pepper Penne in the end. A friend of mine, Sylvia, raved about a red pepper pasta dish she had while vacationing in Sicily earlier this year and I've had it on my mind ever since.
There are a lot of things to love about this dish - it's full of flavor, whips up in the time it takes to cook the pasta, and accepts little changes easily if you want. I was the lucky recipient of a box packed with Asian greens from Jade Asian Greens, and decided at the last minute to sauté some Asian Broccoli-Rapini (Gai Lan) up with the onions to toss into the pasta at the last minute. It was the perfect addition to a perfect pasta! You'll be hearing more about my fun experiments with their greens in upcoming posts!
Roasted Red Pepper Penne
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried penne pasta
- 3 tablespoon olive oil divided
- ½ yellow onion thinly sliced
- 5 stalks Asian Broccoli Rapini 1 cup when coarsely chopped
- 1 16- ounce jar Roasted Red Peppers drained
- 5 garlic cloves minced
- ⅓ cup Parmesan cheese plus more to finish
- 4-5 basil leaves coarsely chopped
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Bring a pot of well-salted water to a boil in a large pot over high heat. Cook the pasta according to package directions.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a medium sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for 1 minute. Trim the ends from the rapini and slice the stalks into thin discs about ¼" thick and add to the onion. When the onion and rapini stalks are almost tender, about 10 minutes, add the leaves and cook an additional 3 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in the bowl of a food processor or blender (I used my Ninja), add the peppers, garlic, cheese, basil leaves, salt, and pepper. Blend until pureed, then stream in 2 tablespoons of oil so that the mixture comes together.
- Combine the cooked penne, onions and rapini in a large bowl. Add the red pepper sauce and toss to coat. Serve with additional Parmesan if desired.
Lynn @ Turnips 2 Tangerines
This my kind of pasta recipe. Nice and easy with ingredients I always have on hand~ Great Reveal Day Pick. Lynn @ Turnips 2 Tangerines
Karen @ Karen's Kitchen Stories
Awesome photo Susan! This looks amazing!
Nora @ Natural Noshing
Love this! I could easily make this dairy free by omitting the cheese and swap out gluten free pasta for my needs, yum! Happy Reveal day!
Couscous & Consciousness
Oh my goodness, that looks seriously delicious, and just perfect for a quick and easy mid-week dinner. Heading into cooler autumn evenings here now, this definitely looks like a must-try for me one night soon.
Karen S Booth
LOVE the look of that - so tasty and colourful!GREAT pick for SRC this month. Karen
Rebekah @ Making Miracles
Oh my that does look DELICIOUS!! What a perfect pasta dish to share - happy reveal day!
Wendy, A Day in the Life on the Farm
Always on the lookout for a new pasta sauce and I love the addition of the greens to your dish.
Traci
I love pasta and am loving this combination. Going to have to try it. Great SRC pick!
SallyBR
Lovely write-up, and wonderful choice for your assignment, a mouth-watering photo!
Have a great Reveal Day!
Tara
Yum! Looks delicious. Great pick this month
Jess @ Flying on Jess Fuel
Ooooh... this sounds SOOO yummy! I love roasted red peppers! Such great, sweet flavor! Great pick!
Melissa
I'm so glad you like this quick meal! I love your addition of the greens. Thanks so much for the lovely write up you gave me! Happy reveal day 🙂
Jeanette Chen
I love easy and delicious this sounds, perfect for any day of the week.
s
Quick, easy and colorful. I love it. GREG
Sam @ PancakeWarriors
This sounds simply amazing!! I love the idea of remaking someone else's recipes!! This was certainly a great one to pick - I adore roasted red peppers
Erin @ The Spiffy Cookie
I love roasted red pepper sauces, great pick!
Nicole
great use of gai lan in an non-chinese dish!
Ala
Haha! I love your intro story--threatening the grandkids with kale smoothie is probably the best thing I've ever heard. 🙂 especially considering I have one about once a week! Also, totally digging this recipe and the idea of fried ice. This pasta is right up my alley!
Dorothy at Shockingly Delicious
Laughing at the kale smoothie potential torture of your grands!
Nice touch with the greens. I almost always put greens in my pasta dishes, and it's clever to add something interesting like gai lan!
Oui, Chef
My kind of quick, healthy, beautiful meal.
Renee
This looks delicious! I look forward to trying it.
Christina @ Christina's Cucina
OMG, this recipe hit the jackpot with my tastebuds because I absolutely love both roasted red peppers AND rapini! Oh, and lets just say that I bought 45lbs of De Cecco pasta on Saturday and it's not for an event! LOVE this! Making soon!! 🙂