Olive Pasta

This recipe was inspired by a tapas plate I had last summer during my fabulous birthday meal at The Bazaar by Jose Andreas.  The restaurant is beautiful inside.  Sophisticated whimsy is how I would describe it.  The menu is filled with innovative and traditional tapas.  Cotton candy foie gras?  It shouldn't work, but it does. 

Cotton Candy Foie Gras

My favorite tapas that we had was the "Olives" which are both traditional and modern.  The traditional olives arrive in a tin, just an unassuming, pimiento stuffed olive with an anchovy fillet, lemon zest, and basil on top.  The modern olive is olive juice that has undergone molecular gastronomical magic and looks like an unassuming olive sitting on the spoon.  When you eat it the juice explodes in your mouth.  It's pretty cool.

Olives & Scallops in Romesco

But I still liked the traditional olive better.  The saltiness of the olive and anchovy,  the brightness of the pimiento, the slight acid of the lemon, the sweetness of the basil.  All simple ingredients combined to create the perfect bite of food.  Such simplicity is inspiring.  So I decided to borrow their delicious combination to turn it into a pasta dish that has become one of Hubs' favorites.

Olive Pasta

3 red peppers
1 head of garlic
1 lb. penne or fusilli (I use whole wheat because that's how I roll)
2 T EVOO + 1 tsp. for garlic
1 2 oz. tin of anchovies in olive oil
1 tsp. crushed red pepper (I like it spicy, use less if you don't)
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/2 c. white wine (I use sauvignon blanc)
2 cups of olives, roughly chopped (I go to Whole Foods and get a mix of everything that's pitted from the olive bar)
1 lemon, zested
A handful of parsley, chopped
Salt & pepper
20 leaves of basil, cut into chiffonade (optional)

You can buy a jar of roasted peppers in the store to save time, but I like roasting my own.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees for roasting red peppers and garlic.  Cut off top of garlic head.  Rub with a little EVOO and salt and pepper.  Wrap garlic in double layer of aluminum foil.  Set on a cookie sheet with the three red peppers.  Roast peppers for 8-10 minutes on all four sides until soft and parts of skin are blackened.  When peppers are cooked, place them in a large bowl.  Cover and let cool.  Peel off skin and remove stems and seeds.  Either puree peppers or cut into slices.  Squeeze cooled garlic cloves from skin.

Cook pasta in salted boiling water until al dente.  Reserve 1 cup of pasta water before draining the pasta.

In a large non-stick skillet, heat EVOO over med-high heat.  Add roasted garlic cloves and anchovies (don't include the oil from the tin), breaking them up as they cook, for at least 5 min, until anchovies are a paste.  All the fishiness will be cooked out.

Add crushed red pepper and Italian seasoning.  Cook for 5 min.

Add wine.  Cook for 2 min. until wine cooks down by half.  Add red peppers, olives, and lemon zest.  Salt & pepper to taste.  Cook for five minutes for flavors to meld.  Remove from heat and add parsley and the juice from half a lemon.

Toss pasta with sauce to combine.  Add reserved pasta water to thin sauce to desired consistency.  Top with basil or more parsley.

Enjoy.