I like to think of this as the clean out the fridge and pantry pasta. Quick and easy roasted red pepper pasta with capers and olives with all the other things that are awesome, will make this your new, quick weeknight pasta dish.

Quick and easy roasted red pepper pasta with caper and olives…and lemon, and spinach, and blistered tomatoes. Even though this pasta has a lot going on ingredient-wise, it is still quick and easy. Everything comes together in the time it takes water to boil and pasta to cook. This is a dish to help clean out the pantry during a busy weeknight.

I really like to make two meals out of this and eat it as a cold pasta salad the next day. Don’t knock it until you have tried it!

The past three weeks have been a whirlwind. First it was Mike’s spring break, then the boys’ spring break, and then the book came out. Over the weekend, I finally went grocery shopping to try and get back into the swing of things.

As you can see from Tuesday’s recipe, I am keeping things simple this week. I find uncomplicated recipes are the best to help you get back into a cooking groove.

This recipe was me using up half of a pint of tomatoes and some fresh spinach (before it all went bad) mixed with a craving for capers and roasted red peppers.

Let’s just call it the “everything is about to go bad and I need to clean out my pantry” pasta.

Since my half-pint of tomatoes was getting a little shriveled, I decided to pop them under the broiler to blister the skin a little bit. We toss the pasta in beautiful tomato infused olive oil when it is cooked.

All you need to do is a little draining, chopping, and then tossing to make this pasta complete.

Overall, the pasta takes under 30 minutes to come together. Quick and easy roasted red pepper pasta is totally customizable for, let’s say, those of you out there that don’t like olives *cough* MIKE! 

Pasta overall does not need much to be awesome. As long as you stick with the oil and lemon, add in everything and everything else you want. You will not be disappointed.

Quick and Easy Roasted Red Pepper Pasta with Capers and Olives

Yield: Serves 2-4

Prep Time: 7 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 22 minutes

Spaghetti noodles tossed with olive oil, lemon juice, roasted red peppers, blistered tomatoes, capers, spinach, and black olives. Think of it as a clean out the fridge/pantry pasta!

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Ingredients

• 16 oz dry spaghetti noodles
• 5oz cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• 1/4 cup avocado oil
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• juice from 1 lemon
• salt and pepper to taste
• 15oz jar roasted red peppers, drained and thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup sliced black olives
• 2 tbsp capers
• 2 cups fresh baby spinach and baby arugula mix
• parmesan cheese, optional topping

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Preheat the oven to broil on high.
2. Add the tomatoes to a heat-proof, deep sided baking dish. Cover with oils, salt, and pepper. Place under the broiler for 5 minutes, until the tomato skin darkens and blisters.
3. Drop the pasta in the water and cook according to the packaging instructions, about 7-9 minutes for al dente. Drain noodles. Add them back to the hot pot.
4. Mix the noodles together with the blistered tomatoes and all the oil. Add the lemon juice, salt, pepper to taste. Mix with tongs to coat.
5. Add the rest of the ingredients, mix to combine. Top with cheese and then serve.