Homemade Pepper Pasta

Italian Sunday Sessions

with Nicole Hernandez & Amy Withers Riedl

One of the first conversations I had with Amy was about our mutual love of Alice Waters, the chef that inspired our generation to make cooking with fresh, beautiful ingredients as a way to enrich every ordinary day.  So this pasta recipe is from the Chez Panisse Café cookbook.  It was such an amazing treat for me to be able to make this pasta with my fellow devoted Alice Waters fan Amy and her sweet, little 2 year old Harrison, whose little hands were happily busy helping knead the dough.

Homemade Pepper Pasta

2-1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
1 tsp olive oil
1 tablespoon water

Blend the flour and salt and set aside. Blend the eggs, oil and water in a separate bowl. Make a well in the flour mixture with a spoon and pour egg mixture into the bowl and gradually start mixing into the flour mix until well blended and continue to knead until you have a smooth elastic mixture. Flatten the dough and wrap in plastic wrap and let rest for 45 minutes. Then you can start pulling off pieces and running through the pasta cutting machine.  I flattened to #5 on the machine and cut the fettuccine. After 45 minutes cook pasta in boiling salted water for about 4 minutes and drain to add to sauce.

Note:  Roll and cut out all the dough into pasta as the dough does not save well.  You can refrigerate the pasta once cut for a day if you have too much.
 
While pasta is resting for 45 minutes. Prepare the sauce - makes enough sauce for 4 servings.
 
This sauce has a Spanish flair with a spicy Anaheim hot chili pepper and Spanish Manchego cheese that give it a robust distinct flavor while the cream gives it a elegant richness.

Pepper Cream Sauce

1 spicy chili relleno pepper (medium spice)
3 sweet peppers in a variety of colors and shapes (1/2 of each)
1/4 onion or shallot
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 - 1/2  cup heavy cream
Shaved Manchego cheese to taste

Amy and I ran across the most amazing peppers at the Farmers Market. The reds, oranges, yellows were stunning and the different shapes so elegant as they were all sort of thrown together to make the perfect painting there on the table. We both love a little spice so we chose one of the chili relleno peppers, a three sweet peppers red, orange and another long, multi-color, Italian sweet pepper.

Thinly slice the peppers and onion. Heat olive oil in skillet and add the peppers and onion and crushed garlic and saute until vegetables are soft, add salt and pepper to taste. Add the fresh pasta to the skillet and mix, add the cream and stir for 2 minutes for sauce to thicken slightly.  Serve and top with fresh shaved Manchego cheese.