FETTUCINNI WITH ROASTED PEPPERS AND GRILLED CHICKEN

I make a killer roasted red pepper appetizer.  After I roast and peel the peppers I slice them and then slow cook them with some olive oil, garlic, celery leaves, italian parsley, water and some salt & pepper.  I cook them on low for about 20 minutes until all the flavors meld together.  This produces the most wonderful olive oil/ juice that you can imagine.  I serve these with some toasted baguettes which sops up the olive oil/juice until you can get the last drop.  This juice is so good that I started to think of a pasta dish that I could make that incorporated this wonderful roasted peppers with their juice, but add some more ingredients to make it a meal.  What I came up with was awesome!  It was a creamy pasta dish, without the cream.  I grilled up and sliced some chicken breasts and tossed those along with the roasted peppers with some fettucinni.  This dish really is decadent without all the heavy cream.


FETTUCINNI WITH ROASTED  PEPPERS AND GRILLED CHICKEN  

For Roasted Peppers:

• 3 Tri-colored peppers: red, yellow and orange
• 4 TB. olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh italian parsley
• 2 TB. chopped fresh celery leaves
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp. salt
• pepper to taste

For Pasta:

• Roasted Red Peppers with juice
• 3 large chicken breasts - grilled and sliced into 1/2 inch slices
• 1 pound fettucinni
• 1 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese (plus more for garnish)
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 1/2 cups pasta water
• salt, pepper and crushed red pepper to taste

1. Rub the whole peppers with 1 TB. of the olive oil.  Place them on a baking sheet in a 400 degree oven.  Turn the peppers every few minutes so that each side is roasted with some black "char" marks.
2. Remove peppers from oven.  Cover tightly with aluminum foil and let cool for about 15 minutes.  Once the peppers have cooled you can peel the charred skin off with a knife until all the pepper skin is removed.
3. Cut the peppers into 1/2 inch strips and place in a sauce pan.  Add the chopped garlic, parsley, celery leaves, water, salt & pepper.  Stir well.  Let simmer on medium heat for about 20 minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside.
4. In the meantime; Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until al'dente - about 8 minutes.  Before straining the pasta reserve about 1 1/2 cups of the hot pasta water. 
5. In a large high side skillet add the roasted peppers with the juice they created along with the pasta.  Stir and cook over medium heat.  Add the parmesan cheese and the lemon juice.  Stir well.  Slowly add the reserved pasta water while continuously stirring the pasta.  This will create a creamy sauce for the pasta.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add the grilled chicken.  Toss all together so that the creamy sauce covers the chicken and pasta.  Serve immediately with parmesan cheese on top for garnish.