Green Bell Pepper Fettuccine

As promised, here it is:

You'll note is very similar to my Fettucine with poblano chile sauce. It's not a coincidence, as both are based on the same use of cottage cheese as a creamy, thick base. The green pepper one I made sooner, after several iterations.

Ingredients:

250 gr. Fettuccine cooked to taste
2 Green bell peppers cut in bite-sized pieces, divided
1/2 Onion, chopped
2 Cloves of garlic, minced, divided
2 Scoops, about 220 gr. cottage cheese
1/2 Cup skim milk
1 Teaspoon oregano
1/3 Teaspoon dried pesto
1/3 Teaspoon fine herbs
1 Cup finely shredded green cabbage
1 Cup soybean sprouts
2 Teaspoons olive oil
2 1/2 Teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup of water

Preparation:

First heat up 1 teaspoon olive oil and add one (1) of the green bell peppers, plus a little bit of the chopped onion. Saute until the bell pepper is a little burnt (the onion will brown and go limp sooner). When they're done, let it cool for a few minutes. You can cook the pasta at the same time.

Once they've cooled enough, say till they're only warm to the touch, put them in a blender with 1 clove of garlic, the cottage cheese, milk and a pinch each of oregano, fine herbs and dry pesto. You know what comes next, don't you? That's right: Liquefy throroughly. Set it aside.

In a deep saucepan or wok heat up 1 teaspoon olive oil and add the rest of the onion and 1 clove of garlic. Saute for a few minutes. Add the cabbage, soybean sprouts and the other bell pepper and stir fry until you achieve the desired softness for your veggies.

Set heat to low and add the sauce you blended. Mix well. Add the oregano, fine herbs and pesto and stir some more. Let it come to a slow boil. When you see any bubbles, add the cornstarch dissolved in water. Keep stirring until large bubbles form.

Now you can either add the sauce to the fettuccine, or the fettuccine to the sauce. It works out the same thing. Let it cool a bit and serve.

Oh, there's a  reason to cook the bell pepper before blending it. Raw bell peppers have a very subtle flavor. When you cook them in a bit of oil, the flavor becomes stronger and mixes better with the other ingredients. I first tried 1 raw pepper for the whole recipe, half in the blender, half sauteed with he other vegetables. I found the sauce barely tasted of green bell pepper.

So naturally in the next go round I used a whole pepper in the sauce. I got the same result. So I gave up on the recipe. But a few days later while eating something else I cooked (I forget what exactly), I noticed sauteed peppers tasted more strongly of bell pepper. Then I decided to try again.

It just goes to show you should experiment and pay attention to the things you eat. How they taste, what texture they have, what color, etc. You never know when one thing can work in another recipe.

Oh, as a bonus here's a photo of part of my kitchen. As you can see, it's a working kitchen :)

I love the overhead light on the GE stove