Linguine / Pasta with roasted peppers

There are so many different types of pasta available in the Indian market over the last couple of years now. When I was little, I think the first ever pasta I had was this alphabet shaped macaroni like pasta. It was such a hit with us kids and Ma would always put that in our soup. Macaroni is another very popular pasta with kids. Then I slowly got introduced to penne (cylinder shaped), fusilli (corkscrew shaped), spaghetti (long thin pasta), tagiatelle (long thin ribbon like pasta), farfalle (bow-tie shaped), canneloni (tubes, usually stuffed with filling) and more recently orzo (shaped like rice grains) and linguine. Linguine is almost like spaghetti but slightly more flat.



My son is a great fan of the movie Ratatouille and inspired by that, he has decided to open a restaurant when he's older, where I will cook, TH will settle bills and he will go on roller skates serving people !
When I told him what he was eating was Linguine, he looked a little shocked because the boy in the movie was called Linguine. For him pasta until now was either macaroni or noodle pasta(spaghetti). All other shapes are just called pasta.

There are many brands selling pasta in India right now and I keep trying different ones, but this linguine from Waitrose is really really good. The pasta cooks up beautifully and almost melts in your mouth as you eat, not because its overcooked, but because it is just so soft and perfect.

The roasted peppers give this a lovely flavour. For the basic sauce, I used this recipe here.

Linguine with roasted peppers
Adapted from Italina khana - Pasta by Ritu Dalmia

What you need -

200g linguine (flat and long pasta)
2 yellow bell peppers
2 red bell peppers
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup tomato basil sauce
2 fresh tomatoes
2 cloves garlic (chopped lengthwise)
a few basil leaves (I ran out of this)
garlic greens (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

What you do with it -

Apply a little olive oil over the peppers and roast them in the oven at about 150 C for 15 mins
Allow it to cool, then peel off the skin and cut into pieces
Deseed and chop the tomatoes
Heat a little olive oil and add the chopped garlic
Add tomatoes and the peppers and allow it to cook for 3-4 mins
Add the pasta sauce and cook for another 5 mins
Adjust the salt and pepper. The pasta sauce already has salt, so see that you don't add too much
Meanwhile cook the pasta in hot boiling water (as per the packet instructions)
Drain the pasta and keep 1-2 tbsps of the water (from the pasta) aside
Add the pasta water to the sauce and allow to cook for 2 mins
Serve pasta and the the sauce over it
Garnish with some chopped garlic greens
Serve hot