Pasta with creamy peppers pesto and crispy eggplants

It’s been a strange summer. A summer made too little of tan, mignon format holidays, sleepless nights searching for the perfect tile, paint scent and symphonies of vacuum cleaner . A summer where the realization has taken the place of relaxation and all the pieces of the puzzle have engaged to each other, to create the perfect design of what we have always wanted. An house. Our home. Finally, I’ve my own kitchen, the kitchen of my dreams, a wonderful gift. Since I’m no longer in a rent-controlled kitchen (or should I say, I’m no longer a squatter of my mum’s one), here I can spend  my nights experimenting, cranking out croissants at 4 a.m., and dreaming about new recipes: you’re out of luck. Do you know that Dali claimed that – paraphrasing – the moment of greatest outburst of the inherent and latent genius in all of us is that short fragment of time that runs between the moment when we fall asleep and one in which we fall in real sleep? In fact, legend has it that he overstepped the housekeeper to wake him up at once as soon as he dozed off, in order to transpose on canvas his brilliant visions seen in that moment. It’s up trying. However, I dream a little bit my recipes at night. I note them on the phone, in an incomprehensible and sleepwalking way. This pasta with creamy peppers pesto is one of those, deciphered at breakfast in front of a slice of bread with jam and a cup of coffee.

INGREDIENTS (serves 4)

• 320 gr of pasta
• 2 peppers (red and yellow)
• A quarter of a red onion
• A couple of handfuls of almonds (preferably peeled)
• 1 eggplant
• 10 leaves of fresh basil
• Grated parmesan q.s.
• Salty ricotta cheese q.s.
• Whole wheat flour q.s.
• Extra virgin olive oil, paprika, salt q.s.

Matching soundtrack: Stolen dance, Milky chance

PROCESS

Thinly slice the onion then wash and clean from the seeds the peppers, so chop it quite small (will cook earlier). Now oiled a pan and sauté the onion and the peppers over a high flame, add salt, add the paprika, cover and lower the heat to finish cooking in a gentle way, adding a little water only if necessary.

Once cooked, pour the peppers in a blender, add the almonds, a tablespoon of grated parmesan, the basil and a drizzle of olive, chop it all to make it smooth and set aside

Wash and dry the eggplant, so cut it into slices and then into cubes of no more than 1 cm per side (you’ll have to be quite precise, but put away the ruler). Dust with flour the aubergine and then sauté in a pan with a hot oil (enough to cover the entire pan surface). As soon as they are golden turn off the heat and salt them.

Cook the pasta into boiling water and once cooked cream it with peppers sauce and a few tablespoons of pasta cooking water, you can sautè in the pot where you previously cooked peppers with onion. Once the pasta become creamy, serve it, add a handful of crispy eggplant and sprinkle with salty ricotta cheese. It’s a really simple dish but I assure you it’s a unique delicacy. Have a good weekend my friends!

Photography: Sara Cartelli.
© Immagini The Eat Culture.