Paccheri with Red Pepper Pesto from Calabria (Vegetarian)

This dish is one of our new vegetarian recipes created in celebration of the plant-based bounty of the Italian harvest. This week's recipes champion fresh, seasonal verdure, the rainbow-coloured soul of the Mediterranean diet.

As the name may infer, this sumptuous vegetarian pesto hails from the sun-drenched Calabria, the ‘tip’ of Italy’s boot. Here, sweet red peppers and fiery chillies grow abundantly from the scorched earth, the unrelenting heat rendering particularly flavoursome crops.

Revered for its spicy, yet slightly smoky taste, the Calabrian chilli is tempered by creamy and cooling ricotta cheese, as well as fragrant basil. Unlike most of the famous cheeses consumed across the peninsula, ricotta is suitable for vegetarians, formed from the sweet and mild whey byproduct of traditional cheese making.

This week, we've serve our Calabrian pesto with fresh paccheri pasta and beautiful sun-dried tomatoes. Paccheri are a large, tubular-shaped pasta originating from Campania and Calabria. “Paccheri” literally translates to “slaps”, which is derived from the sound they make when eaten. Paccheri were invented by Sicilian pasta makers in order to smuggle Southern Italian garlic into Prussia during the Middle Ages and early Renaissance. Prussian garlic was small and weak compared to the large, pungent, Italian cloves, so Italian farmers hid 4-5 cloves in each piece of paccheri and smuggled it across the northern border.

Note: Please consume or freeze our pasta and sauces within 2 days of delivery.

Paccheri (165g):
Durum WHEAT Semola, WHEAT Flour, EGG, Rice Flour

Red Pepper Pesto (70g):
Red Bell Pepper, Onion, Grana Padano (MILK), Ricotta (MILK), Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Vegetable Oil, Garlic, Red Chillies, Salt, Black Pepper

Semi Dried Tomatoes (30g):
Tomatoes, Sunflower Oil, Water, Wine Vinegar, Sea Salt, Sugar, Garlic

Vegetarian Italian Grated Cheese (8g):
MILK, Salt, Rennet (Microbial Coagulant), EGG Lysozyme