A super delicious and easy to make pasta especially on those days when you don’t have fresh tomatoes and peppers handy. This pasta is made with jarred sun dried tomatoes and bell peppers.

The inspiration

It was a cloudy Friday and I felt like making something warm and comforting like a big pot of pasta. This sun dried tomato and bell pepper pasta interested me as I had just seen the recipe on instagram with a post from halfbakedharvest.

About the recipe

What I like about this recipe is it’s easy and uses jarred bell peppers and sun dried tomatoes making it a great pasta to make when you don’t have fresh peppers and tomatoes handy. The other cool ingredient that I like in this recipe is nuts and seeds which are used to make the sauce thick and creamy.

So delicious!

Folks, this pasta is so delicious! Jarred roasted peppers and olive oil from the jar of sun dried tomatoes plus a generous amount of garlic, honey, paprika and vinegar give this sauce its outstanding flavor.

The pasta is tangy, sweet, tomatoey, and delicious. This one is not a simple pasta flavor by any means, but more bold in flavor. It truly is a full bodied robust pasta.

The process:

First make the bell pepper sauce by blending roasted peppers, honey, vinegar, basil, nuts and seed in a food processor. Then cook the sauce for about 5 minutes.

The recipe asks that we cook the pasta in the sauce but I chose to cook the pasta separately, and then added it to the sauce later. I skipped the burrata cheese as I wanted to keep the pasta on the lighter side. I also substituted the butter for olive oil and added fresh spinach for extra boost of veggies.

For a delicious full bodied robust creamy vegetarian pasta give this bell pepper and sun dried tomato pasta a try.

Creamy Sun Dried Tomato and Bell Pepper Pasta
From Halfbakedharvest.com
with a few modifications

Ingredients

• For the sauce:
• 1 jar (12-ounce) roasted red peppers, drained
• 1/3 cup toasted nuts/seeds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, etc.
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 4 – 6 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, oregano, or parsley
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil (I use the oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes)
• 2 tablespoon apple cider or champagne vinegar
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 2 tablespoons  olive oil
• For the pasta:
• 1 pound pasta I used spaghetti
• Salt and black pepper
• 1/2 cup oil packed sun-dried tomatoes, sliced
• 2 cups grated parmesan
• Fresh basil or mixed Italian herbs, chopped for garnish
• Chili flakes as much as you want

Instructions

• Make the red pepper sauce.
• In a blender or food processor, combine the red peppers, reserving 1 whole pepper for later, walnuts (or pumpkin seeds), tomato paste, garlic, herbs, olive oil from the sun dried tomato jar, vinegar, honey, paprika, cayenne, and a generous pinch of salt. Blend until smooth, about 1 minute.
• In a large pot warm olive oil. Then add chili flakes and briefly toast in the oil before adding red pepper sauce. Shallow fry for about 5 minutes.

• Make the pasta.
• Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain pasta saving 2 cups pasta water to use later.
• Combine the pasta with the pepper sauce. If the pasta gets thick add pasta water to thin it out. Stir in fresh spinach and sun dried tomato.
• Top with 1 cup parmesan and mix together. Taste for salt and adjust accordingly. Pasta is ready.

• Serve pasta topped with extra fresh parmesan and herbs. Enjoy!