Spinach Pasta with Red Pepper Sauce

This pasta dish gets its gorgeous color and sweet, smoky flavor from six roasted red bell peppers pureed into a cream sauce. The peppers char under the broiler until blackened, steam in a paper bag to loosen the skins, then get chopped and simmered with sautéed onion, garlic, and chicken broth before hitting the blender.

The roasting step is what separates this from a raw pepper sauce. That charred skin adds a smoky sweetness you can’t get any other way. Fifteen minutes of simmering in broth concentrates the flavor further, and the final puree turns everything into a smooth, pourable sauce.

Fresh basil and heavy cream go in at the very end, off the heat. The cream adds richness and rounds out the pepper’s natural acidity, while the basil keeps its bright, fresh flavor because it never cooks. Don’t boil the sauce after adding cream or it can break.

Green spinach spaghetti against that vibrant red sauce makes a striking plate.

Chef Tips

• Char the peppers thoroughly on all sides. Black spots are good. Undercharred peppers are harder to peel and won’t have the same smoky depth.
• The paper bag steam is essential. Ten minutes trapped in that steam loosens the skin so it peels off easily in sheets.
• Puree until completely smooth. Any chunks of pepper skin left behind make the sauce gritty.
• Use vegetable broth instead of chicken to make this fully vegetarian.

Variations

• Goat cheese finish: Stir crumbled goat cheese into the sauce instead of cream for a tangier, more complex flavor.
• Spicy version: Add a roasted jalapeño or two to the pepper puree for a sauce with gentle heat.