Strascinati con Peperoni Cruschi e Mollica

Ingredients

• 400g strascinati or orecchiette
• 8 dried sweet peppers of Senise (peperoni cruschi)
• 150g coarse breadcrumbs from stale country bread
• 120ml extra virgin olive oil
• 1 garlic clove
• 60g cacioricotta or aged pecorino, grated
• Salt

Before you cook

• Wipe the dried peppers with a damp cloth.
• Pull out the stalks and shake out the seeds.
• Tear the stale bread into crumbs about the size of rice grains.
• Peel and lightly crush the garlic clove.

Steps

1. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil.
2. Heat the olive oil in a small frying pan until it shimmers.
3. Slide in two peppers at a time and fry them for 8 seconds a side, until they darken a shade and go glassy.
4. Lift the peppers onto kitchen paper straight away; they crisp as they cool.
5. Fry the rest the same way, watching closely, because a second too long turns them bitter.
6. Pour half the pepper-flavoured oil into a wide pan and add the crushed garlic.
7. Add the breadcrumbs and toast them over a medium heat for 4 minutes, stirring, until crisp and nut brown.
8. Tip the crumbs onto a plate and discard the garlic.
9. Cook the pasta in the boiling water until al dente, about 10 minutes.
10. Crumble half the fried peppers into coarse flakes.
11. Drain the pasta, keeping a cup of its water, and return it to the pan.
12. Dress the pasta with the remaining pepper oil and a splash of the cooking water.
13. Fold through the crumbled peppers and half the toasted crumbs.
14. Divide the pasta between plates and scatter over the rest of the crumbs.
15. Top each plate with a whole fried pepper and a shower of grated cacioricotta.