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A lot of what I cook comes from classic recipes. I see them on tv, eat them at a restaurant or discover them on my travels; this one doesn't fit the mold though. No, this dish is very much an invention of my hangry cravings. I’m sure many people have made a similar dish before but it isn’t a classic I have heard of. Peppers and halloumi are a beautiful match: the salty, chewy indulgence of the halloumi matched with the sweet silkiness of a roasted pepper is simply bliss. The logical stretch was to add a carb and sauce and indulge; and so this dish was born. I know it’s the summer but pondering the origins of this dish sends my mind thinking of Christmas… Last Christmas I went on my holiday time splurge of catching up with old friends and said I would pop over to make dinner. Call them guinea pigs if you will but whilst I was testing this dish on them, I was pretty certain they’d love it. It went down a treat and so I made it again for another friend a few days later. This is addictive and you WILL eat too much. It is one of those dishes where I make extra knowing I will return for another fork full, then another, and another, and… well I think you get the jist. This is probably a favourite dinner of mine and whilst pre-roasting the peppers takes up a bit of time, the main cooking is very quick. If you buy pre-roasted peppers then this can easily take a mere 20-30 minutes. I normally roast my own peppers but if you can find a good brand of pre-prepped peppers then go ahead! If you do then just beware of them being too vinegary. As always with cooking, taste it, if it’s a strong vinegar then rinse it and see if it's better.
Notes on the ingredients:
I was cooking for 4 so my pictures will show double the quantity that I am describing. The peppers can be your colour of choice. I tend to go heavy on the sweet red peppers and a bit of bitter green to add a touch of balance to the creamy sauce and salty halloumi. I’ve used large tubular pasta (rigatoni), mainly because it is big enough to allow for beautiful halloumi and pepper morsels to hide inside the tubes. They also have enough outside texture to hold the creamy tomato sauce. Realistically you can use the pasta of your choice, but anything that can hide a tasty bite inside like shells (conchiglie) would be ideal for this.
Serves 2 Prep time: 30 mins Cooking time: 20 mins
Ingredients:
2 Peppers (1 per person)
150g of Halloumi
250g of Pasta (Rigatoni)
2 Shallots
2 Cloves of Garlic
100ml of Passata
50ml of Cream
50g of Toasted Pine Nuts
Dried Oregano
Pre-Method (Roasting Peppers) 1). Pre-heat the oven to a high heat (220+) 2). Sprinkle a good handful of rock salt into a roasting dish and drizzle with olive oil 3). Place the peppers on top of the oily salt bed 4). Roast until the skin is blackened, making sure to turn once or twice during roasting 5). Remove from oven and pierce the peppers so that the juices run out 6). Move the peppers to a side plate to cool and pour the juices into a dish and keep for later 7). When the peppers have cooled you will be able to peel the charred skin off and remove the seedy core
Method:
1). Boil the kettle and fill a large saucepot with the boiled water. Add a good dash of salt to the pot and add the pasta.
2). Sprinkle a good handful of rock salt into a roasting dish and drizzle with olive oil 3). Place the peppers on top of the oily salt bed 4). Roast until the skin is blackened, making sure to turn once or twice during roasting 5). Remove from oven and pierce the peppers so that the juices run out 6). Move the peppers to a side plate to cool and pour the juices into a dish and keep for later 7). When the peppers have cooled you will be able to peel the charred skin off and remove the seedy core 8). Slice, ready to add to the pasta