This dish is a happy accident. I first made it to accompany roast potatoes, with muhammara in mind (a delicious Middle Eastern dip of roast red pepper, walnuts and pomegranate molasses). But I had no walnuts, so used pistachios instead. The result is addictive and it has since become a go-to; the sauce works just as well tossed through pasta as it does with grilled prawns or roast potatoes. You could use crumbled feta instead of ricotta to top the pasta, but I like that the ricotta doesn’t compete with the flavour of the sauce.

Roast red pepper orecchiette with pistachios and ricotta

Prep 15 min
Cook 30 min
Serves 2

200g cherry tomatoes, halved
2 large red peppers, pith and seeds discarded, flesh roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely grated
2 tbsp olive oil
Flaky sea salt and black pepper
200g orechiette, or another robust pasta shape
50g pistachios, toasted if you wish
2 generously heaped tbsp ricotta

Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6. Tip the tomatoes, peppers, garlic, oil and a teaspoon of salt into a roasting tin large enough to hold everything in one layer, toss to coat, then roast or 25 minutes.

When there are 15 minutes left of roasting time, bring a large pan of salted water to a boil and cook the orechiette according to the packet instructions or to your preferred level of al dente. Reserve half a mug of the pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta and return it to the empty pan.

Once the peppers and tomatoes are done, blitz half of them with 30g of the pistachios in a high-speed blender or food processor, until broken down into a smoothish sauce. Stir the sauce through the pasta, taste and season with salt as needed; if the sauce seems too thick, add a tablespoon or so of the reserved pasta water to loosen it (mine didn’t need any pasta water, but it will depend on how well roasted the peppers and tomatoes are).

Roughly chop the remaining pistachios. Spoon the pasta into warmed bowls, top each portion with a tablespoon of ricotta and the remaining unblitzed roasted peppers, tomatoes and chopped pistachios, add a good grind of black pepper and serve hot.