Angel Hair Pasta With Peppers and Tomatoes

Name: Angel Hair Pasta With Peppers and Tomatoes
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients: 2 garlic cloves, smashed to a paste; 2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar, or a bit less, to taste; 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for bread crumbs, if using; Salt and pepper; Red-pepper flakes, to taste; 1 cup finely diced sweet peppers (a mix of colors, if possible); 3 to 4 cups halved cherry tomatoes, or larger tomatoes cut into 1-inch chunks; 1 pound angel hair pasta, capellini or spaghettini; 2 ounces ricotta salata or mild feta cheese, roughly crumbled (about 1/2 cup); 1/4 cup coarse toasted bread crumbs, for garnish (optional); 1 small bunch basil, for garnish

By David Tanis

Total Time: 30 minutes
Rating: 4(292)
Comments: Read comments

This simple pasta celebrates the end-of-summer harvest and is perfect for a light lunch or supper, or as part of a buffet. Bell peppers and other sweet peppers — like Corno di Toro and many other varieties of peppers of every hue — ripen in late summer, the same time as long-awaited flavorful (and multicolored) tomatoes, making their pairing seem almost preordained.

Featured in: A Quick-Cooking Pasta That Keeps the Heat Outside

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Ingredients

Yield:4 to 6 servings

2garlic cloves, smashed to a paste
2tablespoons red-wine vinegar, or a bit less, to taste
3tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for bread crumbs, if using
Salt and pepper
Red-pepper flakes, to taste
1cup finely diced sweet peppers (a mix of colors, if possible)
3 to 4cups halved cherry tomatoes, or larger tomatoes cut into 1-inch chunks
1pound angel hair pasta, capellini or spaghettini
2ounces ricotta salata or mild feta cheese, roughly crumbled (about ½ cup)
¼cup coarse toasted bread crumbs, for garnish (optional)
1small bunch basil, for garnish

Ingredient Substitution Guide

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Preparation

Step 1
Put a large pot of water over high heat and bring to a boil.
Step 2
In a low, wide salad bowl or pasta-serving bowl, combine garlic, red-wine vinegar and 3 tablespoons olive oil. Add a good pinch of salt, black pepper and red-pepper flakes.
Step 3
Add sweet peppers and cherry tomatoes, season well with salt and toss to coat with dressing. (You may do this up to an hour before cooking the pasta.)
Step 4
Salt the pasta water and cook the angel hair pasta until al dente, usually 4 to 5 minutes. Drain pasta in a colander.
Step 5
Add cooked pasta to the bowl and toss well to coat, spooning over juices from bottom of bowl and bringing plenty of tomatoes and peppers to the surface.
Step 6
Sprinkle with ricotta salata. If using bread crumbs, season with 1 teaspoon olive oil and a little salt, then sprinkle crumbs over surface.
Step 7
Garnish with whole or torn basil leaves. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Ratings

4 out of 5

292 user ratings

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Comments

Ess6 years ago

i think this dish is better if you flame-roast the peppers whole and then peel + seed them before cutting them up. The warm roasted peppers exude a lot of juices. which are silky and sweet (slightly char-flavor) and make a sort of sauce as they coat the pasta and blend with its starches. (After cutting up the roasted peppers, i usually toss them with a small splash of White Balsamic/Modena vinegar.) For me, this is a real improvement on the existing recipe.

Golem186 years ago

Well, Solopiano, seems to me TP is entitled to hate, intensely dislike or even despise peppers. The correction is uncalled for and linguistically pretentious. "Language police" are unwelcome in any setting and this is about food.

TP6 years ago

Thanks for this. I have rogue cherry tomatoes that sprung up from last year's crop and was looking for something else to do with them. I am skipping the peppers because I hate them. But will serve with a side salad of bitter greens (dandelion mostly) with warm bacon vinaigrette. Kind of a weird BLT.

Tom Welch2 years ago

I went heavy on the garlic and red pepper flakes which gives this a little heat.

chris2 years ago

Add Olives, Basil and mozzarellas cheese

Es3 years ago

So simple and amazingly good. Served as a side to roasted salmon. Cut up a bunch of small peppers (from CostCo) and cherry tomatoes. Cooked 5 oz of squid ink pasta. Toasted Italian-style bread crumbs, added some grated Parmesan to that. Tossed it all together with a little more oil and a couple of TBSP pasta water and, much to my surprise, enjoyed a delicious pasta dish.

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