Red Pepper Pasta

This quick, easy pasta is perfect for a summer afternoon. It's very little cooking and utilizes a blender instead of a burner. The red peppers really bring a surprise to the people who expect this to be a traditional red sauce pasta.

Annotated Cooking Notes: No need to clean the blender between steps; just let it all blend together.

300g dried penne

1 bunch of flat-leaf parsley (30g)

extra virgin olive oil

1 clove of garlic

1 x 460g jar of roasted red peppers

100g blanched almonds

½–1 teaspoon dried red chilli flakes

150g cottage cheese

olive oil

red wine vinegar

1. Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions.

2. Blitz the parsley (stalks and all) in a blender with enough extra virgin olive oil to make a vibrant green oil, then pour into a clean jam jar.

3. Peel the garlic and place in the blender (there’s no need to clean it) with the jarred peppers (juice and all), the almonds, chilli flakes, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar and half the cottage cheese. Blitz until super-smooth.

4. Drain the pasta, reserving a mugful of starchy cooking water, then return it to the pan. Pour over the pepper sauce and toss together over the heat, loosening with a splash of cooking water, if needed, then season to perfection with sea salt and black pepper.

5. Divide between serving plates, dot over the remaining cottage cheese, then drizzle with parsley oil, to taste, keeping the rest in the fridge for up to 3 days, or freezing in an ice cube tray for future meals.