Roasted Pepper and Walnut Pasta

• 400gshort pasta such as penne or rigatoni
• 200gspinach
• fine salt
• black pepper
• 100gwalnuts
• 450groasted red peppers from a jar (about 2 jars), drained and patted dry
• 1garlic clove
• 11/2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
• 1 tspground cumin
• 1 tsppul biber or chilli flakes, plus extra to serve
• 1/2lemon, juiced
• 4 tbspolive oil, plus extra to finish
• 100gfeta
• 20gflat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Method

1. 1Put your largest saucepan over a medium heat, dry, and toast the walnuts for 3 minutes, shaking the pan, until they smell nutty and darken a shade. Tip them onto a board. Fill the pan with water, salt it well and bring it to the boil.
2. 2Cook the pasta for 10 to 11 minutes until just tender with a slight bite. Drop the spinach into the pan for the last minute so it wilts into the pasta. Scoop out a mug of the cooking water, then drain.
3. 3While the pasta cooks, put two-thirds of the walnuts in a blender with the peppers, garlic, pomegranate molasses, cumin, chilli flakes, lemon juice, olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Blend to a thick, slightly coarse paste. Taste it: it should be sweet, smoky and sharp all at once, so add a little more molasses for sweetness or lemon for edge.
4. 4Return the pasta and spinach to the pan off the heat. Add the sauce and a splash of the cooking water and toss until every piece is coated and glossy, adding more water if it clags. Keep it off the heat; this sauce stays bright and fresh-tasting when it is warmed by the pasta rather than cooked.
5. 5Roughly chop the remaining walnuts. Serve the pasta in bowls with the feta crumbled over, the walnuts, parsley, black pepper, a pinch more chilli flakes and a thread of olive oil.

Per serving

kcal

773

protein

22.2g

fibre

8.1g

carbs

91g

fat

37.5g