I think this may be my new favourite weeknight pasta!! It’s so low-effort. You have to be a littttleeeee bit patient letting the capsicum and cherry tomatoes roast to a sweet, caramelised perfection, but you can easily do that ahead of time, leaving you free to whizz this up (quite literally, in the case of the tapenade) in about as long as it takes to cook a pot of pasta! Perfect for a day when your fingers are itching towards the Uber eats button but you still want to tryyyy to eat something healthy and homemade.

The capsicums take on the sweetest, silkiest flavour roasting in the oven. The tapenade is salty, rich and garlicky and it has a slightly sweet nuttiness from the pine nuts. And to top it off, the whole dish is vegan! So it’s a crowd pleaser for sure. You can always add parmesan cheese on top if you like, but either way it is delicious and easy!

Grilled Capsicum & Olive Tapenade Pasta

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 red capsicum

1 green capsicum

1 yellow capsicum

2 cups of cherry tomatoes

1 Tbsp grape seed oil

A generous pinch of salt

2 serves of penne pasta

2 spring onions, finely chopped

A handful of fresh oregano and thyme (to garnish)

For the olive tapenade

1/3 cup kalamata olives

4 cloves of garlic

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp pine nuts (plus a little extra, for a garnish)

Method

Chop all the capsicums into strips about 3cm wide. Put the chopped capsicums and cherry tomatoes on an oven tray. Drizzle with the grape seed oil, sprinkle with a few pinches of salt and toss to make sure the capsicums are evenly coated in oil and salt. Roast at 180˚C for 50-60 minutes, or until the capsicums and tomatoes are soft, sweet and slightly browned. At this point you can store the capsicums in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Cook the penne according to the instructions on the packet. While the penne cooks, make the olive tapenade. Note: if you’ve pre-cooked the capsicums and stored it in the fridge, now’s a good time to chuck it in a frying pan on low heat, so it starts warming up.

To make the tapenade, simply blitz all the ingredients using a handheld blender, until a smooth paste forms.

Drain the cooked pasta and chuck it in a frying pan along with the tapenade, grilled veggies and spring onion. Give it a good toss to combine and fry for 1-2 minutes to make sure everything is nice and hot.

Top with the oregano and thyme, a little sprinkle of extra pine nuts, salt and cracked black pepper, and chilli and parmesan if desired.

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