Sunday, April 20, 2014

A to Z (and Tasty Delights): Roasted Red Peppers & Black Bean Pasta



Herding Cats vs The A to Z Challenge!
This is my third year joining in on blogging the Alphabet in April!

2014 Theme: "Gasp, Sigh, Gigglesnort w/ a side of Yum"

R: Roasted Red Pepper & Black Bean Pasta (Yum)


This recipe has been in my head for a few weeks now. After a book signing I went out to dinner with Sharon from over at I Smell Sheep and had this dish. It was SO good and after I was totally craving it and decided to make up a recipe for it and see how it went. And...not bad. Not bad at all. And I learned a new culinary skill! It was my first time roasting peppers. Woot!



Tasty Delights and Dazzling Disasters is all about playing in the kitchen and having some fun.

I'll share my delights or my disasters. Yall feel free to join in and create your own posts, share your favorite recipes, what have you. 

Pretty simple ingredients. And you can vary it up depending on your veggie preferences.

Roasting the peppers turned out pretty easy. 20 minutes at 400 then flip the peppers over.
Allow to cool then peel the skin off and remove the inside seeds. 
They do let off a LOT of liquid so lining the pan is important.

After you've roasted and prepped your peppers get them chopped up and sauteed with your spices and garlic. This just takes a few minutes (and smells incredible!)


Next up is to pure the peppers and seasonings. You can use a regular blinder for this step as well but I opted for my submersible blender. Blend until your desired consistency. 
Next up is sauteing your other ingredients. I opted for onion and corn in addition to my black beans.
I originally planned on adding some slices of red pepper as well but managed to roast all of my red peppers not realizing it until too late.

While sauteing your veggies start on your cream sauce. This was SO easy.
Warm your half-in-half and add your puréed red peppers and cheese.
Keep heating and stirring until thickened. Add butter. Then add your sauteed veggies.
Add to pasta and toss until well coated with cream sauce.

I had a little helper while cooking. Baby Jones is our herd babe we lost earlier this month. 
She took to following me around when she got sick and lost her eye sight so I put a little bed down for her in the kitchen so she could be close and comfy.


I was...really nervous about trying this on my own. I'd had a similar dish out around town and it was SO good I wanted to try it on my own. And it turned out pretty easy! Even with having to roast the peppers (something I'd never tried before).

It wasn't as spicy as I was expecting. It was actually fairly mild which I prefer to the spicier version I had when at the restaurant. Yes. I am a total and complete wuss. lol

Do you have a favorite Red Pepper dish?
Or pasta dish?
Ever tried something you'd been fretting over only to have it turn out pretty easy?


Roasted Red Pepper & Black Bean Pasta Recipe (for printable recipe click HERE)

3 large red bell peppers (2 for roasting, one for sauteing)
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/4 cup fresh basil (or 1 tablespoon dried basil)
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cups half-and-half
1/4 cup grated Romano cheese
4 tablespoons butter
Pasta (I used two types just because but any form will do)
1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 medium onion
1 cup corn
  • Heat oven to 400 degrees. Lay your whole red peppers on an aluminum lined backing sheet and bake 20 minutes. Flip peppers over and back an addition 20 minutes until collapsed and roasted
  • Let peppers cool then peel and core them. This is actually pretty easy. Use gloves if you don't want to smell like peppers ALL night)
  • Dice roasted peppers then saute with garlic and basil in 3 tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat for 10 minutes
  • Once peppers have finished cooking blend mixture (being very careful because of heat) until the right consistency. 
  • Return to pan and add half in half and cheese and mix until melted. Add butter and stir until melted. Simmer 5 minutes.
  • Sauteing your black beans/onion/corn in another pan then set aside (I worked on this during the 10 minutes the peppers were cooking with the garlic)
  • Add black bean mixture to your roasted pepper sauce and mix well
  • Add mixture to pasta and mix well until all pasta is coated with cream sauce. You can add extra sauce on top as well :) 




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~Anna

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