Soft, smoky peppers are the base of a chunky sauce with roasted almonds and anchovies. A splash of pasta water helps it cling to short pasta, while lemon keeps everything fresh.
In this dish, roasted peppers do the work of a tomato sauce: they give the pasta colour, sweetness and a rich vegetable flavour. Roasting the peppers until completely soft also gives the flesh a lightly smoky note. The blackened patches on the skin are no problem; you remove the skin before using the peppers. The sauce is deliberately left chunky, so you can still make out the almonds and peppers.
Almonds give the sauce body and a soft, slightly grainy bite. Use blanched almonds for a milder flavour, or skin-on almonds for a more earthy result. Toasting them briefly makes them more fragrant and easier to grind into crumbs. A food processor is quick, but use short pulses: blending for too long can release the almond oil and make the sauce heavy.
The anchovy fillets mostly dissolve into the sauce as you mix it. They mainly add savouriness and salt, rather than a pronounced fish flavour. So taste at the end before adding extra salt; the anchovies and pasta water already bring salt of their own. Lemon juice brightens the sweet peppers. If your peppers are naturally very fresh-tasting, start with less lemon and add more to taste.
Red pointed peppers are handy because of their elongated shape, but regular red peppers work too. Peppers are often plentiful in summer and early autumn; outside that season, you can simply use supermarket peppers. For a milder version, leave out the anchovies and add a little extra salt, though this will change the savoury depth. Walnuts can replace the almonds, but they have a more pronounced, bitter flavour.
Short pasta with ridges or hollows, such as rigatoni or fusilli, holds the chunky sauce well. Save a cup of pasta water before draining the pasta: the starch helps bind the oil and pepper pulp into a glossy coating. Serve straight away, with a simple green salad on the side if you like. Leftover sauce can be kept covered in the fridge and used within three days; warm it gently and loosen it with a little water if needed.
Preheat the oven to 240 °C. Put the peppers on a baking tray and roast for 25–35 minutes, until the skin is blackened all over and the peppers are soft. Turn them halfway through.
Put the hot peppers in a bowl and cover. Leave to stand for 10 minutes so the skin comes loose. Peel off the skin, remove the stems and seeds, and leave the flesh to drain.
Meanwhile, toast the almonds in a dry frying pan over medium heat for 3–4 minutes, until golden brown. Shake the pan regularly, then leave the almonds to cool.
Cook the pasta in plenty of salted water until al dente, following the packet instructions. Before draining, scoop out a mugful of pasta water.
In a food processor, blend the peppers, almonds, anchovies, garlic, olive oil and lemon juice into a chunky sauce. Season with black pepper and taste to see if it needs salt.
Put the sauce in a large pan. Add the drained pasta and a splash of pasta water, then toss over low heat until the sauce is glossy and clings to the pasta. Add a little more pasta water if needed and serve straight away.
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