Tomato and mascarpone pasta

Long time, no blog (?)! It’s been a busy few months since I last shared a recipe, and while I’ve still been cooking away (girl’s gotta eat) I’ve had the small endeavour of planning a wedding keeping me occupied. We had a fairly long engagement allowing us to get the big things booked up early and take our time on the details, however everyone was correct in saying that as soon as last Christmas was out of the way, time would fly. I admit that in the week leading up to the wedding I foolishly wrote my weekly shopping list as usual, planning out my meals for the next few days with little consideration for my upcoming nuptials. Reader - this was a mistake. My optimistic plans went out of the window and unsurprisingly I did not do much cooking that week (shout out to the local delivery drivers for keeping us well fed!).

Anyway, the wedding was lovely, and once I’d gotten over the crippling jet lag post-honeymoon, I started easing myself back into cooking gently, including resurrecting an old recipe that I started working on about a year ago. I keep all of my recipe ideas and notes in a folder in the Notes app on my phone, so I can keep tabs on what I’ve done before and any observations or changes I’ve made, plus go back to it for inspiration. The first version of my tomato and mascarpone pasta included roasted cherry tomatoes, less red pepper and a few other bits and pieces which didn’t make it into this final recipe. Thankfully I’d left myself some useful “tasting” notes from my first attempt (could do with another pepper, bit of balsamic and a few chilli flakes?) which helped guide me in the right direction as to how I might improve it from my inital attempt. The recipe below is the next iteration in the process - and I think it’s pretty delicious!

I’m not a purist when it comes to matching pasta shapes to the correct sauce (hello spaghetti bolognese), however I did experiment with a few different varieties in an attempt to get the recipe right. I’m a fusilli girl at heart, but this spirali pasta strikes the right balance between twist and sauce holding, especially since this is a fairly saucy sauce. Rigatoni did also work to an extent, but I felt the sauce didn’t quite cling to the pasta as well as it does with a twistier shape.

The sauce itself, with the sweated down shallots, sweet tomatoes and peppers, is on the sweeter side, however a pinch of chilli flakes really gives it an extra dimension. Don’t feel too tempted to skip it if you’re not a fan of spicy food - the flakes merely give the sauce a warmth rather than making it hot. The addition of a very generous amount of mascarpone, and the cute little bocconcini (otherwise known as mozzarella pearls) mellow it all out and make for a delicious, if indulgent, pasta dinner. The pasta is best eaten straight away with a fresh salad, but can be refrigerated and eaten as leftovers the next day - I’d recommend not adding the mozzarella until you’re just about to eat it. Let me know if you give it a try!

Tomato and mascarpone pasta

Serves: 4 | Total time: 45 minutes | Source: vicki cooks veggie

Ingredients

• 2 red peppers

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 2 large banana/echalion shallots

• 3 cloves garlic

• Knob of unsalted butter (around 25g/1oz)

• ½ tsp fine salt

• 1 tin (400g/15oz) plum tomatoes

• Ground black pepper

• 1 tsp granulated sugar

• Pinch dried chilli flakes

• 250g/9oz spirali pasta (or any shape you prefer)

• 4 tbsp pasta water (from cooking the pasta)

• 125g/4oz mascarpone

• Handful basil leaves

• 125g/4oz mozzarella pearls/bocconcini (drained weight)

Method

• Preheat the oven to 210°C/410°F

• While the oven heats up, chop two red peppers into bitesize pieces. Place on a non-stick baking tray and coat with 1 tbsp olive oil and some salt and black pepper, mixing well. Roast in the oven for 25 minutes.

• Finely chop the shallots and garlic, and in a large pan sauté gently for 5 minutes in the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil, knob of butter and ½ tsp fine salt. You want the vegetables to soften but not colour.

• Add the tinned tomatoes to the pan, breaking them up with your wooden spoon. Stir in 1 tsp granulated sugar, a pinch of chilli flakes (such a small amount won’t make the sauce spicy - don’t worry) and a good few grinds of black pepper. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

• In the meantime, get a large pan of salted water boiling on the hob and cook 250g/9oz pasta according to the packet instructions. Once cooked, retain 4 tbsp (about 60ml) of the pasta water before draining the rest away.

• Prepare the basil by cutting it into thin ribbons (called chiffonade - you can see how it’s done here). You can also cut your mozzarella pearls in half if they’re a bit big.

• After the sauce has simmered down, stir in the mascarpone and basil until the mascarpone has fully melted into the sauce. Add in the roasted red peppers, drained pasta and the reserved pasta water, and stir until the sauce is thick and glossy.

• Turn off the heat, add the mozzarella pearls and serve immediately.