A pinch of saffron, a spice not easy to find, makes this tomato and bell pepper pasta sauce distinctive.
Mark Guydish | for Times Leader
Saffron is the ingredient that drew me to this recipe for a pasta sauce made of roasted bell peppers, a shallot, wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and tomatoes. I opted for home-made pasta with some whole wheat flour (the dough is above the Parmesan in the pic).
Mark Guydish | for Times Leader
Remember Easter, Lent, abstaining from meat every Friday and my Test Kitchen efforts to follow that rule? In sticking to the meatless proscription, I wrote about Shrimp Parm, stewed beans with potatoes and olives, chickpeas and vegetables steamed in peanut sauce, soft pretzel bites, leek and onion potato pie, and roasted fresh tomato pasta.
Even if you don’t remember all that, likely “soft pretzel bites” struck you as a snack. And I made them not as a meatless entree, but as a St. Patrick’s Day option. I also made a Lent-acceptable dish that Friday, but never wrote about it, until now.
Like most (but not all) of the recipes from that stretch, this came from Diana Shaw’s “The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook,” and after spending years trying to find vegetarian recipes I like I can happily recommend that book above any others in our cooking library.
With locally grown tomatoes and bell peppers readily available, this is an ideal time of year to make this sauce.
As for the optional saffron, finding some could be more of a challenge.
I have used saffron in a very few recipes over the years: The first time was decades ago when I tried a “lobster slippers” dish that cut lobster tails into pieces according to the natural layers of the shells and cooked them in a heavy cream sauce with saffron. I think it’s delicious, but also expensive and work-intensive, so it’s a rarity. While it sounds pretty rich, much of the cream actually gets left behind in the pot (which makes it a bit wasteful).
At the time, I couldn’t find saffron anywhere despite searching several stores — until I asked a worker at Wegmans, who apparently retrieved the little bottle from a hidden stash. I have since found it among the other spices from time to time, but it’s costly. Expect to pay up to $20 for a couple of grams.
What does saffron taste like? I offer foodnetwork.com’s explanation: “a subtle earth-sweet flavor profile with a tinge of bitterness on the tongue that gives way to delicate floral and honey notes.” My own explanation is simpler. In the right dish, it is subtle and borderline divine.
A pretty thorough review of past test kitchens seems to show I’ve never written about that or any other recipe with saffron in the mix, so this is likely a first. And since it’s listed as “optional,” the chef apparently didn’t consider it an essential part of the flavor matrix. I used it, we loved it, and since I didn’t think to make some sauce with it and some sauce without (much less to have a blind taste test of the two) I can’t say if it really made a difference.
I will say the flavors worked very well together, even if roasting/peeling bell peppers and peeling/seeding tomatoes is a bit of work.
Dobru chut!
Bell Pepper and Fresh Tomato Sauce (The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook, Diana Shaw)
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 shallot, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 yellow or orange bell peppers (or one of each) roasted, peeled and chopped
¼ cup minced fresh basil, or 1 tablespoon crumbled dried basil
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
½ pound fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped, or 1 cup canned tomatoes
Pinch powdered saffron (optional)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Grated Parmesan or similar cheese (optional)
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, swirling the pan to coat the bottom. Add the shallot, garlic, peppers and basil, reduce the heat to medium and sauté, stirring often, until the shallot softens, about 7 minutes.
Raise heat to medium high and ad the vinegar, stirring until it evaporates, about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, reduce to medium and cook, stirring constantly until the tomatoes break down into a pulpy sauce, about 6 minutes. Stir in the saffron if using, and season with salt and pepper. Serve with pasta and top with grated cheese.
To prepare peppers: slice in half lengthwise and remove core, seeds and stem. place skin side up on a broiler pan and broil until the skin buckles and chars (5-8 minutes). Cool, peel and chop.
To prepare the tomatoes: Make two slits in skin at the top. Bring enough water to cover the tomatoes to a boil in a saucepan, add tomatoes and boil until skin starts to crack. Remove from pan and put in cold water. When cool enough to handle, slip skins off, slice and remove as many seeds as possible, then chop.
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