When I first began learning to cook, back in my college apartment with a couple of random cookbooks and a few recipes printed from the interwebs, I was aaaallll about pasta. I’d venture a guess that pasta was one of the first foods many of us prepared beyond cereal or popcorn. Plus, I knew I loved it. Who doesn’t love pasta? As my interest in cooking has grown, I’ve steered away from pasta a bit. We still love it and eat it at least once every couple of weeks, but in many ways I started to equate it with something like a sandwich. In the same way you can put pretty much anything between two slices of bread and call it a meal, so too can you throw random ingredients into your pasta dish and call it dinner. While some nights that sort of adaptability and easy approach is a necessity, on others I just want something a little bit different.
I love this pasta with roasted red pepper sauce, kale and feta because it is exactly that…just a bit different. It’s different enough from the typical thrown together pasta jumble that it gets me jazzed about pasta again. Actually, our whole family is pretty nuts over this dinner and the kids always ask for seconds. The salty feta is a wonderful complement to the slightly sweet roasted red pepper sauce. The kale rounds out the flavor profile and contributes a healthy dose of vitamins and nutrients. If you use whole wheat pasta, as we do, this is quite a healthy meal. And bonus, this makes great leftovers!
3 red bell peppers*
12-16 oz. pasta
1 bunch kale, de-stemmed and coarsely chopped
1 tbsp. olive oil
½ cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
½ tsp. kosher salt
½ tsp. red pepper flakes
2 cloves garlic, chopped
4 oz. crumbled feta