You know when you read a recipe about char-grilling vegetables like peppers or aubergines which tells you to hold the vegetable over a gas flame and keep turning it until the skin is blackened and you think “I cannot do this because I have an Aga”? Well, I have discovered (you probably all knew this already) that placing the vegetable on a rack in a hot oven, ie the Aga roasting oven, has the same effect. I did it last night with red peppers and have done it with aubergines, as you can see in this recipe.

I wanted to make a pasta sauce using roasted peppers and cream, because I think they work very well together. So this is what I did.

Ingredients

(serves 2-3 people)

• 3 red peppers (the Romano type would also work, possibly better, but you might need a couple more)
• 2 tbsps olive oil
• 1 fat garlic clove, crushed
• Pinch of chilli flakes
• 5 or 6 tbsps double cream
• Fresh basil leaves
• 200g of spaghetti or pasta of your choice

Method

• Position the rack on the third set of runners in the roasting oven and place the whole peppers on it
• Roast them for about 25 minutes, turning them halfway through (I used tongs)
• Once they are nicely charred in places and soft place them in a dish or on a plate and cover with clingfilm; after half an hour or so it should be easy to remove the skins and deseed the peppers
• Keep back half of one of the deseeded peppers, slice the rest and place them in a saucepan or sauté pan large enough to hold the pasta when it’s cooked
• Cover and keep warm in the warming or simmering oven
• Warm the olive oil in a small pan on the simmering plate and add the crushed garlic, taking care not to burn it, followed by the chilli flakes and cream; bring to the boil then remove
• Combine the cream mixture and reserved half pepper in a blender or food processor, season and then add this sauce to the sliced peppers
• Cook your pasta according to the packet instructions
• Drain, reserving a ladleful of the cooking water, and add to the pepper mixture, loosening with the cooking water if you feel it needs it
• Toss everything together with the basil leaves and serve