| The time consuming part of this recipe is roasting
the red pepper. If you haven't done this before, here is how it is done. Pre heat your oven to high. We generally do this at 250
degrees centigrade (Gas mark 9). Place the pepper on a heat proof dish
and put it in the oven. The skin of the pepper will turn black, and you will need to turn
it over once so that all the skin blackens. Usually the whole process takes about 20
minutes. Take the pepper out of the oven and allow it to cool enough to handle it. The
skin should now peel off easily. Remove the stalk and the seeds, they should pull away
quite easily, and cut the pepper into thin strips. Reserve any juice from the pepper, and
add to the sauce near the end of the cooking time.
As with everything in life, timing is the key. Bring
a pan of salted water to the boil and add the penne. Bring back to the
boil. If you are using dried pasta, cook according to the directions on the packet,
usually between 6 and 8 minutes.
As soon as the pasta has started to cook, gently
heat the olive oil in a pan, and add the pepper and garlic
and the chopped anchovy fillet. Fry gently for 4 or 5 minutes,
or until the garlic starts to turn golden. Now add the pinch of cayenne pepper.
Be careful, background heat only is required.
Two minutes from the end of the cooking time for the
penne, add 2 tablespoons of water from the penne to the pepper sauce, together with the
reserved juices from roasting the pepper. Stir well to amalgamate. Check the seasoning and
add salt if necessary. Remember that the anchovy will be quite salty anyway. At the last
minute, add the flat leaf parsley.
Finally, drain the penne and stir in the sauce. As
always, there should be enough sauce to just coat the penne. |
