This morning my friend told me about this super yummy red pepper pasta salad recipe she made, and insisted I make. Since my vegbox provided most of the stuff I needed, and I was just missing the pasta, I figured I would give it a go. Or at least something like it, and stick it in a jar until I had pasta. It is pretty yummy. Here is what I did.

Heat your oven to roasting hot (about 200C/400F) and chop in large pieces one large pepper and maybe 4 medium tomatoes and put in a large roasting dish (basically whatever combo or red pepper or tomatoes will fit in your dish) with some olive oil, garlic (cloves or powder), salt, and pepper. If don’t want to roast anything you can just use a drained jar of roasted red peppers and a Tbsp of tomato paste. Roast your veg until they are fragrant and slightly charred.

Grab some nuts (I had mixed nuts) and a bag of bread crumbs (I had about 1.5 cups). Toast maybe 1/2 of nuts and then chop them in a food processor. Add the nuts to half the breadcrumbs. In a small pan, heat some olive oil, add the other half of the breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, Italian herb mix, and garlic powder and mix until golden. This will be your crunchy bread crumb topping to add to your pasta salad later with fresh herbs and maybe some spinach.

When the tomato and pepper mixture is done, put it all (including all pan juices and oil) in the food processor with 1 tsp of smoked paprika and the juice of a lemon. whiz for a bit and then add nuts and breadcrumb mix. Pulse briefly and adjust seasoning if needed. Dump in jar and save for later. Done and done.