Pasta alla crema di peperoni (Pasta with Bell Pepper Cream Sauce)

Frank18 July 2020pasta, primi piatti46 Comments

The bell pepper may hail from the New World, but Italians have embraced it whole-heartedly. It appears in an extraordinary range of dishes, and you can find a good number of those recipes right here on this blog. But Pasta alla crema di peperoni, or Pasta with Bell Pepper Cream Sauce, is not your typical bell pepper dish.

Most of us probably associate bell peppers with the strong, often smokey, flavors you get when you fry, roast or grill them. But in this recipe you cook them low and slow with onions to bring out their inherent sweetness, then purée them with cream for even more sweetness and a velvety smooth texture.

The resulting crema di peperoni, or bell pepper purée, can be paired with just about any pasta shape your heart desires. And you can make it ahead and keep it in the fridge for up to a week, so it’s a perfect solution for that last minute weeknight dinner.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

400-500g (14 oz- 1 lb) pasta (see notes)
2-3 large red and/or yellow bell peppers, or 400 g (14 oz) mini peppers, trimmed and cut into strips
1 medium onion, preferably fresh, thinly sliced
Olive oil
Heavy cream, q.b., approximately 250 ml (1/2 cup)
50g (2 oz) freshly grated Parmesan cheese, or more to taste
Salt and pepper

Optional:

A handful of grape or cherry tomatoes, cut in half
A couple of basil leaves

Directions

In a large skillet, sauté the peppers, onions, and, if using, the tomatoes in the olive oil over a moderate flame for about 5 minutes, then add a drizzle of water, lower the heat and cover the skillet partially. Let the vegetables braise until they are perfectly tender, adding more water if things begin to dry out. Take care to avoid any browning. Season the vegetables generously with salt and pepper while they cook.

Transfer the vegetables to a blender or food processor, along with a couple of basil leaves if you have them on hand. Start to blend/process them adding cream in a steady stream until you have a smooth and pourable, but still rather thick, purée. Taste and adjust for seasoning.

Transfer the purée back into the skillet and keep at a very slight simmer, adding pasta water if things get too dry.

Cook the pasta in well salted water until just a bit under the al dente stage.

Transfer the pasta to the skillet with the purée, along with a ladleful of the pasta water. Toss the pasta with the purée over a gentle flame until the purée has thickened enough to coat the pasta well. Add grated cheese and toss once more to let the cheese melt into the sauce.

Serve immediately, with additional grated cheese for those who want it.

Notes on Pasta alla crema di peperoni

My main tip for success with this dish: Cook those peppers and onions low and slow, avoiding any browning, to bring out their mellow sweetness to the full. For the same reason, you want to make sure they cook until they are completely tender, without any trace of crunchiness. That will also ensure the peppers will purée into a perfectly smooth “cream”.

Speaking of which, I’d note that the Italian word crema is a false friend. It’s not a reference to the dairy product (which is called panna in Italian) but to the creamy texture. In other words, basically a synonym for “purée”; it can also refer to a class of puréed soups.

You can use red, yellow or orange bell peppers to make your crema di peperoni, or a combination of any of them. And if you have the mini bell peppers as pictured in this post, so much the better. They have a delicate sweetness that’s ideal for this dish. Whatever type you use, make sure your peppers are fully ripe. Avoid green peppers, which are basically unripened peppers, not a separate genus. Their slightly astringent flavor is fine where you need assertive flavor—I love them paired with grilled sausages, for example—but that’s not what you want here.

The crema di peperoni adapts well to any pasta shape, but in my opinion it works best with short pastas like the farfalle pictured here. Penne, rigatoni or casarecce are also fine choices. But you will see recipes for this sauce on long pastas, too, like spaghetti or bucatini. Ultimately it’s a matter of taste.

Variations

Variations on this basic theme abound. Some like to use ricotta instead of the heavy cream. If you want a lighter dish, you can replace the cream with some of the pasta water or broth. You can also add more tomatoes, which should provide enough juice for a purée. For a more assertive and less sweet take, you could use roasted peppers, or sub garlic for the onions.

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