A Summertime Classic Cookbook

Okay, so I feel really bad about making you get out your slow-cooker in the dead of summer for yesterday’s recipe. Therefore, today I’m going to do my first cookbook review of a collection of recipes that is dead set on keeping the heat in your kitchen to an absolute minimum.

The cookbook is No Cook Pasta Sauces by Joie Warner. I received it as a wedding gift 10 years ago and every summer I whip it out when the heat outdoors gets to my brain and puts me in a cooking coma.

I love this cookbook because the recipes are simple but diverse so one day you could have linguine with an Italian flair, perhaps Lemon Basil Pesto, and the next day, from the same cookbook, you can satisfy a hankering for Chinese by whipping up some vermicelli with Asian Peanut Butter and Garlic Sauce. It’s such a versatile book and nearly all the sauces can be whipped up without the stove, or simply warmed in a heatproof bowl over your boiling pasta.
The recipe below is one of our family’s favorites from this cookbook; hope you all enjoy it as much as we have through the years!

Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

1 jar (7oz.) roasted red peppers, well drained and pureed in food processor
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
Grated zest of 1 medium lemon
¼ c. butter, at room temperature
½ tsp. salt
Freshly ground black pepper
¼ c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
1/3 c. fresh basil leaves, cut into strips
8 oz. fettucine

Combine pureed red peppers, garlic, lemon zest, butter, salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese in pasta serving bowl. Set aside to warm to room temperature or, preferably, place the bowl (be sure it’s heatproof) over the pasta pot to melt the butter while heating the water. Once the water comes to a boil, remove bowl and set aside.

Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain pasta well and immediately add to sauce in bowl. Sprinkle with basil and toss. Serve at once with extra Parmesan cheese. Serves 4.

Tune in tomorrow for a recipe that is one of my dad’s all-time favorites, and it also earned him the most chilling stink eye I’ve ever bestowed on another human being.