Soft Pasta with Roasted Capsicum Sauce and Fine Turkey
Capsicums roasted until the skins lift away, blended with milk into a sweet orange sauce, folded through turkey mince broken to crumbs and pasta cooked past al dente.
Metric avoids regional spoon ambiguity. US uses 5 mL tsp, 15 mL tbsp and 240 mL cup. Small masses stay in grams unless a verified recipe conversion exists. More on measurements
2 large red capsicums (400 g)
500 g turkey mince
300 g small pasta shapes (dry)
100 g onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed (10 g)
25 g olive oil
150 ml reduced-fat milk (155 g)
30 g skim milk powder
35 g parmesan, finely grated
150 ml reduced-salt stock (150 g)
20 g unsalted butter
1 g dried oregano
0.5 g iodised table salt
black pepper, to taste
Method
Heat the oven to 220C fan. Halve the capsicums, pull out the seeds and stems and lay them cut side down on a tray. Roast 25-30 minutes, until the skins have blistered and blackened in patches.
Tip them into a bowl, cover it and leave 10 minutes. The trapped steam lifts the skins away; they should then peel off in sheets. Do not skip this. Capsicum skin is thin, tough and completely indestructible in a sauce.
Blend the peeled flesh with the milk and the milk powder until smooth.
Warm the oil in a wide pan and soften the onion and garlic 10 minutes over low heat. Add the turkey mince and break it apart constantly with the back of a spoon for 8 minutes, until it is in fine crumbs with no pink left.
Pour in the capsicum sauce, the stock, the oregano and the salt, and simmer 15 minutes until it has thickened and the mince is tender enough to crush against the side of the pan.
Cook the pasta 3-4 minutes longer than the packet says, so there is no bite left at the centre at all. Drain, fold it into the sauce with the butter, and serve with the Parmesan and pepper over the top.
Safety and storage
Cook to
75°C / 167°F in the centre (poultry, including minced poultry)
Keeps
2 days refrigerated below 5°C
Reheat to
steaming hot, at least 75°C
The Food Safety Information Council table gives poultry, whole or minced, as 75°C in the centre. Colour and clear juices are not a reliable test. Check the thickest part with a thermometer.
Cooked rice and pasta keep two days rather than three, so this dish takes the shorter time. Cool it fast: split large amounts into shallow containers as soon as it stops steaming, and have it in the fridge within two hours. Reheat once only, until steaming hot right through, at least 75°C in the centre.
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Soft Pasta with Roasted Capsicum Sauce and Fine Turkey
Serves 4 · Prep 20 min · Cook 45 min
Capsicums roasted until the skins lift away, blended with milk into a sweet orange sauce, folded through turkey mince broken to crumbs and pasta cooked past al dente.
Ingredients
2 large red capsicums (400 g)
500 g turkey mince
300 g small pasta shapes (dry)
100 g onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed (10 g)
25 g olive oil
150 ml reduced-fat milk (155 g)
30 g skim milk powder
35 g parmesan, finely grated
150 ml reduced-salt stock (150 g)
20 g unsalted butter
1 g dried oregano
0.5 g iodised table salt
black pepper, to taste
Approximate per serving
2743 kJ / 655.6 kcal · protein 42.6 g · carbohydrate 63.8 g · fibre 4.6 g · fat 24.5 g · sodium 353.1 mg
Method
Heat the oven to 220C fan. Halve the capsicums, pull out the seeds and stems and lay them cut side down on a tray. Roast 25-30 minutes, until the skins have blistered and blackened in patches.
Tip them into a bowl, cover it and leave 10 minutes. The trapped steam lifts the skins away; they should then peel off in sheets. Do not skip this. Capsicum skin is thin, tough and completely indestructible in a sauce.
Blend the peeled flesh with the milk and the milk powder until smooth.
Warm the oil in a wide pan and soften the onion and garlic 10 minutes over low heat. Add the turkey mince and break it apart constantly with the back of a spoon for 8 minutes, until it is in fine crumbs with no pink left.
Pour in the capsicum sauce, the stock, the oregano and the salt, and simmer 15 minutes until it has thickened and the mince is tender enough to crush against the side of the pan.
Cook the pasta 3-4 minutes longer than the packet says, so there is no bite left at the centre at all. Drain, fold it into the sauce with the butter, and serve with the Parmesan and pepper over the top.
Safety and storage
Cook to
75°C / 167°F in the centre (poultry, including minced poultry)
Keeps
2 days refrigerated below 5°C
Reheat to
steaming hot, at least 75°C
The Food Safety Information Council table gives poultry, whole or minced, as 75°C in the centre. Colour and clear juices are not a reliable test. Check the thickest part with a thermometer.
Cooked rice and pasta keep two days rather than three, so this dish takes the shorter time. Cool it fast: split large amounts into shallow containers as soon as it stops steaming, and have it in the fridge within two hours. Reheat once only, until steaming hot right through, at least 75°C in the centre.
Meals built soft and small-particle, which is the dietary lever a recipe can genuinely control and one current guidance supports. Portion size is yours to set: these are written at an ordinary serving and divide in two if you are eating smaller and more often. Diagnosing, curing or treating gastroparesis is not something food does. If eating is not going in, if you are dehydrated or losing weight without meaning to, that needs a clinician rather than a different recipe.
