Red pepper pesto? Heresy, I hear you cry! Well… not really. Pesto simply means a pounded sauce, or in these modern times–blitzed in the food processor. Sure, the classic Ligurian sauce contains basil and pine nuts, but you can legitimately call any number of variations pesto.

I’m really proud of myself for finally knocking pesto off my very long Things to Make list. I feel rather silly for having taken so many years to make it, to be honest, but it has (or rather, had) a weird intimidation factor for me. No longer! What could be easier than tossing a couple of peppers in the oven, peeling them, then throwing them in a food processor with some other goodies for a few seconds? Well, opening a jar, but work with me here!

Roasting peppers can turn even the most appallingly bad peppers into something quite delicious. I always make a point of buying the ugly and unloved peppers as they tend to have the best flavour and that really paid off today. I tried roasting one on the gas burner but quickly abandoned that idea after a couple of glowing embers flew off the underside of the pepper. With visions of the Towering Inferno in my mind’s eye, I turned the oven on full blast and threw the peppers in. I have no idea how long they took–I pottered around tidying and cleaning while they roasted, with the occasional peek in the oven whenever I happened to remember that it was on. I transferred them to a bowl when they were blackened all over, and collapsing in on themselves.

After that, I grated the cheese, tracked down a clove of garlic–am I the only person who keeps losing heads of garlic in their kitchen?–and collected the rest of the ingredients. After some light peeling, I threw everything bar the olive oil into my tiny food processor and blitzed away. In a few seconds I had pesto! Why had it taken me so long?

When dinner-time rolled around, I simply stirred the pesto into some penne rigate–don’t forget to add a few tablespoons of the starchy cooking water from the pasta–and dished it up. No dusting of parmesan, no shower of greenest parsley… I wanted to taste every last drop of pesto.

Luscious.

Despite my heavy-handedness with the parmesan, the smoky flavour of the peppers shone through clearly. The non-traditional almonds provided the same slight knobbly texture as pine nuts usually do, and the occasional bit of crunch where the processor missed a bit. I’d class it as a huge success.

Next time I’m going to save some pesto to spread on some crusty bread, perhaps paired with a rosemary-spiked cannellini bean spread. Or stir it into soup….

My head’s a-whirl with possibilities!

Roasted Red Pepper Pesto

I like my pesto quite cheesy, but feel free to adjust the balance of the nuts and parmesan to your own taste. If you do, then remember to re-calculate the Weight Watchers points.

WW (UK) points: 6 for entire recipe

2 large red peppers
15g flaked almonds
28g parmesan, freshly grated
1 large clove of garlic, crushed
2 tsp tomato puree
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

Roast the red peppers–either in the oven or over a gas burner on the hob–until blackened and blistered all over. Put in a large bowl, cover, and leave to cool for 10 minutes. Place a sieve over the bowl to strain the juices as you pull out the stems, scrape out the seeds and pull off the skin. Put skinned peppers in a small bowl and strain the accumulated juices over them. If not making pesto immediately, cover.

In a food processor–if you have one with a small bowl, use that–put the roasted peppers (including their juices) and the rest of the ingredients, except the oil. Process until well combined but not completely smooth. Add the oil and process again until well combined and creamy. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.