Roasted Peppers with Pasta and Feta cheese

This is my lovely sister Jo's 'signature dish'. She like many other people claims that she can't cook, infact she is a very good and imaginative cook, it's just a matter of finding the time. We have made this dish for years now, it's fresh, it's simple, it's really tasty and it reminds me of summer. The house is filled with  wonderful smells when the peppers are roasting. You can vary it by adding other vegetables to roast like aubergine, red onions and tomatoes. You can substitute the feta for halloumi cheese.  Add grilled chicken to the dish or place anchovy fillets on top of the peppers as they are roasting.  I'm keeping it basic today though.

As a family we eat loads of pasta, I have so many favourite pasta recipes.  I have overheard whilst phoning my mum and dad to invite them for dinner, my dad shouting in the background "I'm not going if we're having Pasta". I think he's joking!


I was asked if I make fresh pasta. I received a beautiful pasta machine for my 40th birthday, which I have just retrieved from the kitchen cupboard today and dusted down.  I have tried a few times.  The pasta was lovely, but I didn't find it particularly easy and I did wonder whether it was worth all the effort.  Now there is an incentive to try again.  I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm aware that if you are looking for ideas for meals for children that not all children like peppers, James isn't a great fan.  With this meal he eats around them and enjoys  the pasta and cheese.  The saltiness of the feta compliments the sweetness of the pepper so nicely. So it's a good meal to encourage some new tastes.



Ingredients

Serves 4

3-4 large peppers any colour, deseeded and sliced length ways into strips (2-3cm)

olive oil,  enough to drizzle over all of the peppers

salt and pepper

200g of feta cheese

400g of pasta

Method

Place the peppers on a roasting tray, drizzle with the olive oil, season and place in a preheated oven, at  200C.

Roughly cut up the feta cheese into smallish chunks.

10 min before the peppers are ready,  cook the pasta in salted boiling water.  Drain the pasta and when the peppers and slightly blackened around the edges after around 40 min, add the cooked pasta to the peppers in the roasting tray.   Add the feta cheese and mix together.  The flavoured oil which coats the pasta and the slight melting of the feta makes this a very enjoyable dish.

A green salad and a baked ciabatta might be good to mop up the lovely juices.