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European Italian Recipes

Roasted Red Pepper Pesto

Red Pepper Pesto Recipe

Invariably simple to produce and devastatingly delicious, pesto is almost certainly the last word in quick, easy and frugal meals. Of course, it has applications outside the world of fusilli (basil pesto is, for instance, a rather delicious addition to soup), but that’s where its heart shall forever rest. For example, take this roasted red pepper pesto – in order for one’s pasta to obtain a satisfactory demise, all one need do is roast some fruit along with a little garlic, blitz it up with a few added extras and yell “Bob’s my uncle” at the top of one’s lungs. You’ll be glad to hear that the last step is not, and hopefully never will be, obligatory.

The number of different types of pesto one could dream up could, quite possibly, stretch on into eternity. However, this recipe has become a stand-out favourite since, unlike this rocket pesto, it deviates firmly from the norm. Indeed, most pesto is decidedly green, though it can be made from pretty much every herb under the sun.

Red Pepper Pesto Recipe

As you might imagine, the flavour attained by this recipe also differs from the norm somewhat – rather than being on the fragrant side, it is rich and almost caramel. Roasted garlic is, no doubt, responsible for the presence of that particular culinary facet – and a most welcome one it is too! Enjoy!

Roasted Red Pepper Pesto {recipe}

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

• Two red peppers

• Two cloves of garlic

• 1 red chilli

• A few walnut halves

• Juice of half a lemon

• A small handful of parmesan cheese

• 3 tbsp olive oil

• Salt

Method:

1. Pop the peppers, garlic and chilli on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and bake in the oven at 150C for 30-40 minutes until slightly charred. Remove the skin and seeds from the peppers

Red Pepper Pesto Recipe

2. Throw everything in a food processor and whiz until it has become a paste – you may need to add another tbsp of olive oil, just to loosen it up a bit.

Red Pepper Pesto Recipe

Cost: If one is committed to being frugal it is possible to find peppers at an extremely reasonable price – two for 70p isn’t that much of a stretch. As such, this very flavourful pesto can be made for around £1.30 – a most tempting price!

100 replies on “Roasted Red Pepper Pesto”

A great recipe for how to use up some of our prospective capsicum harvest this year. I discovered another use…adjika and ajvar, both heavy on the capsicums and both heady mixtures of thick tasty looking vegetably goodness to be spread with gusto on thick (THICK) home made bread or dolloped with abandon into just about everything when winter is trying to invade the small spaces of your home. I went hunting for recipes for these wonderful baltic type spreads because as a card carrying frugalite I always want to know how to make them myself…frugal AND they taste better. I had a great time hunting down recipes for the Russian adjika (methinks their alternative to ajvar…) and then falling off my seat laughing at the Google Translations of the predominately Russian blog sites that I found the recipes on. You never know when life is going to hand you a good laugh but you can pretty much bet on it if you go hunting for recipes in a language foreign to your own and you utilise Google Translate…I would recommend it to anyone with a bit of spare time on their hands. I couldn’t get off the floor when I found one particular French cooking blog because their translations were better than any sitcom ;). Cheers for this wonderfully unctuous looking creation that would be just as good stirred through a pan full of veggies as pasta. Another degustatory delight in the name of frugality 🙂

Oh dear. I am going to have to make this. I adore roasted red pepper…but for some reason I never thought of making it myself. And pesto of any kind is perfection. Thanks for this!

Okay, but it’ll take some serious self-restraint. Thanks so much for sharing that recipe – I can’t wait to give it a try!

Your site is beautiful, by the way – big fan 🙂

I just stumbled across your blog and like the look of your recipes 🙂 I love making pesto with a variety of different greens and nuts, but never thought to use different veggies. Thanks for the inspiration, now I’m off to have a read through your archives 🙂

Yum! I just made a chipotle roasted pepper sauce this past week! I’m a sucker for gorgeous red bell peppers! I also mixed it with pasta…sooo good! I love roasted garlic…that’s a great addition to the flavors! I will try that next time, thank you! 🙂

Beautiful photos you have here. Beautiful and vibrant. Love the idea of having a red chili pepper in there to give it some heat to this pesto. Lovely post.

So I was gonna try and eat less pasta, figuring all that white flour wasnt doing me any good. Now, living in Italy at the moment this is difficult enough as there is delicious pasta all around me. But now you also post amazing looking pesto dishes and it will become even more difficult! By the way, I love that you used walnuts as well – definitely more frugal than pinenuts (which they sell here with a security seal similar for alcohol bottles due to the price I reckon) and I am sure give this a lovely earthy taste (which is why I prefer using walnuts to pinenuts when making beetroot pesto). Stunning pictures as well!

Looks delicious! And what a great idea. I’m sure the pesto could be added to simple tomato soup for a delicious roast-y flavor as well. Versatile and frugal, a great combination. Great job!

Those pictures are gorgeous. Really. You always take such great photos that make me want to eat the computer screen.

You really have great recipes and great photos! I love them and this I will try, we have lots of peppers in the summer and fall around here and I am always looking for great ways to prepare them. When you grow your own, it is really frugal!

An absolutely wonderful idea! I love making pesto since it can be the base for just about anything you cook, so it’s nice to have a good repertoire of different ingredients for pesto! I love rocket too but boy this sounds exciting.

I’ve got an obsession with roasted red peppers at the moment and have been making vegan cheez with them. I imagine it would be easy to veganize this with a bit of nutritional yeast subbing for the cheese. Fantastic Nick!

This looks great! Going to try it this afternoon! A little question: how long do you think it can keep in the fridge? I have a LOT of red peppers to use! Thank you for the recipe!

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