Roasted red pepper chickpea pasta
A silky, smoky sauce of blended roasted red peppers, garlic and cream cheese over chickpea pasta, bright orange and full of protein.
- 25 min total
- 15 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $2.66 a serving
- 510 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 3 cloves garlic, sliced
- 1 jar roasted red peppers, 12 oz, drained
- 2 oz cream cheese
- 1 lb chickpea pasta, two 8-oz boxes
- ¼ cup grated parmesan
- 2 tbsp fresh basil, torn (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
Each serving has about 510 calories, 26 g protein, 69 g carbs and 17 g fat, and costs about $2.66 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Fill a large pot with water, add the salt, cover and over high heat.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Warm the oil and garlic in a small over medium-low heat for 2 minutes, until the garlic is soft and pale .
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Low heatTimer: 2 min
Put the garlic and its oil, the roasted peppers, cream cheese and smoked paprika in a blender and blend until completely smooth.
Cook the chickpea pasta 1 minute less than the package says. Scoop out 1 cup of , then .
Reserve pasta water. It means scooping out a cup of the starchy cooking water before you drain the pasta. A splash helps the sauce cling and turn silky, and it’s the step everyone forgets.
How you’ll know: A mug of cloudy water is sitting by the stove before the pasta goes into the colander.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
High heatTimer: 7 min
Dolly’s tip: Chickpea pasta foams up, so leave the lid off, and it turns mushy if overcooked. Taste a minute early.Pour the sauce into the empty pot and warm it over low heat, then add the pasta and parmesan and , loosening with until silky.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Reserve pasta water. It means scooping out a cup of the starchy cooking water before you drain the pasta. A splash helps the sauce cling and turn silky, and it’s the step everyone forgets.
How you’ll know: A mug of cloudy water is sitting by the stove before the pasta goes into the colander.
Low heat
Taste for salt and serve with basil on top.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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