Banana Pepper Blues: Cavatappi with Bacon & Banana Pepper Red Sauce
One of my favorite pizza combinations includes fresh banana peppers, chicken sausage, red sauce and smoked mozzarella. I had an intense craving for this last week. Unforunately, when I sent my husband out for the ingredients, he didn't find any banana peppers, which were kind of the whole point of my pizzza plans. Le sigh. I improvised and made a completely different (yet delicious) banana pepper-less pizza, but my need to enjoy said peppers had not waned.
The farmers market was teeming with banana peppers this weekend and so I just had to pick up a few. Having already made pizza the week prior, I didn't want to make it again. It was a somewhat cool summer night, so I figured a heartier pasta dish might be nice. I even had tomatoes from the market so I could make my own red sauce (which is super easy to do—once you do it, you'll never buy jarred again—more on this in a future post).
In many cases, ingredients are totally substitutable and you could throw any kind of peppers you want into this dish, but I encourage you to try it with fresh banana peppers (not jarred/pickled). They come in sweet and hot, which look pretty similar. For this I used hot but there is a touch of honey in the sauce to help balance the heat with sweet. The smoky bacon and salty grated cheese also help with the balance of flavors.
Cavatappi with Bacon & Banana Pepper Red Sauce
Serves: 2
Preparation Time: 30-45 Minutes
Ingredients:
1/3 lb. short pasta (I used whole wheat cavatappi, but you can use whatever type of short pasta you'd like or have on hand—rotini, farfalle, gemelli, etc.)
3 tbsp. bacon ends, diced (or 2 slices of thick-cut bacon, diced—*see notes)
1/2 red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 fresh banana peppers, sliced (remove seeds if you prefer less heat)
1 pint of fresh cherry tomatoes (or canned—*see notes)
1 large, ripe garden tomato, diced (you could also just use more cherry tomatoes instead)
1 c. water
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1-2 tbsp. honey (depending how sweet you like your sauce)
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. butter (optional—*see notes)
salt/pepper to taste
grated Italian hard cheese to top (optional)
Method:
1. In a medium-sized sauce pot, add diced bacon ends and saute over medium heat, letting the fat render out, and in turn, greasing the pan. Add onions to bacon and saute until translucent. Add minced garlic and banana peppers and saute for a few minutes more until the peppers are soft.
2. Add diced and cherry tomatoes, water, red wine vinegar, honey, 1 bay leaf, and oregano. Let simmer over low heat uncovered, stirring occasionally and breaking down cherry tomatoes with the back of a large spoon as they soften. (*See notes regarding consistency, cooking time, etc.)
3. While the sauce is simmering, bring a pot of salted water to a boil and add the other bay leaf. Once it reaches a boil, add the pasta and cook for 8-9 minutes, or until al dente. Remove from heat and strain pasta, discarding the bay leaf, and reserving about a 1/2 cup of pasta water (straining and reserving water is made so much easier with one of these).
4. Remove and discard bay leaf from sauce and add cooked pasta and about 1/2 cup of pasta water. Stir to combine over low heat. Let simmer for a minute or two more to thicken. Remove from heat, add salt and pepper to taste, along with butter to finish. Serve with a sprinkling of grated cheese, if desired.
Notes:
I like to keep Trader Joe's Bacon Ends & Pieces in the freezer at all times. It's basically a big block of random bacon slices, bits and ends. You wouldn't eat it for breakfast in this form, but it is perfect for cooking. It's easier to slice pieces off when it's frozen, so no need to thaw each time you want to use some. See this site for a rave review and a picture.
Fresh, in-season tomatoes are one of summer's jewels. A close second are these canned cherry tomatoes. I'm not sure where all you can find them, but I know Whole Foods carries them and for about $2/can. These wouldn't work well for say, a salad, but they are superb for sauces.
The beauty of making your own red sauce (besides the freshness and homemade goodness) is it can take really as little or as long as you want. It can even be made the night before, refrigerated and re-heated the next day, which will probably even deepen the flavors, in addition to saving time. If you decide to let it sit on the stove simmering for awhile as you prepare other dishes, I suggest covering the pan to keep the condensation within. Feel free to add more liquid (water, wine, etc.) as necessary. As written, this sauce will end up being somewhat chunky. If you want a smooth sauce, you could always blend it or use an immersion blender.
Butter in a red sauce?! While this isn't absolutely necessary, it does add a nice smoothness to the sauce that I find delightful. It's such a small amount that it doesn't add too much in the way of fat or calories, but can put the finishing touches on an already delicious sauce, as well as help the sauce adhere to the pasta. Totally up to you, but give it a try before ruling it out!
