Homemade pasta sauce with lots of parmesan cheese is my ultimate comfort food! And one of my favorite’s is Roasted Red Pepper Sauce.
What’s up guys? Hows life? Rocking it? I sure hope so.
Me? I’m sitting here in my living room with a big bowl of Roasted Red Pepper Pasta, a cute sleeping baby next to me and thinking about all the stuff we have going on in the next few weeks.
Starting with visitors. My dad, sister and father in law are all visiting us this month and can’t wait to spend time with the girls. For me, visitors mean I need to plan some fun local activities, outings, restaurants and delicious home-cooked meals.
Apart from visitors, Halloween is around the corner and this year we are making Poppy’s costume. So far I only have the hat part… so I need to get going on the rest! Fingers crossed it turns out. Our little Cora bean will be rocking one of Poppy’s old costumes so we are set there.
We also want to keep tackling our fall family goals this month, especially with the crisp weather and fall colors. Trip-wise we are hoping to 2 trips coming up, one with the girls and one without. So the hubs and I have been scheming some options. But we need to get to booking! That’s always the scary part.
What else… Oh the hub’s birthday is in November, so I’m trying to get creative! I have some thoughts on family activities and little presents from me and the girls. Now I just have to go out and buy stuff! I’m slowly getting there!
I’m trying push myself to connect with old friends that I haven’t seen in a while as well as new friends. Coffee dates, phone calls, letters and packages, are all on my to-do list!
But before I get going on all this “stuff,” I’m just going to sit here, stare at my adorable baby girl and savor this fabulous simple meal.
So about this pasta sauce, it is absolutely lovely. A homemade sauce made from a blend of roasted red peppers and tomatoes that is easy to make and eat. I particularly love this sauce because it gives regular old marinara sauce a much more complex flavor without getting too difficult or complicated.
For the roasted red peppers you have 2 options:
- buy a 16 oz jar of roasted red peppers
- roast 2 red bell peppers in the oven
If you choose to roast your own peppers, allow for an hour to roast and peel the peppers either the day of or up to 2 days before. Then the recipe only takes about 15-20min. And don’t worry, it’s not hard, just takes some time in the oven. Regardless of store-bought or home roasted, the sauce will be fabulous.
All you need for this sauce are 5 main ingredients. The result is an addictive sauce that is delicious on pretty much everything… pasta, roasted veggies, a meatball sub, or even pizza!
When life gets busy, I always revert back to simple wholesome recipes with few ingredients that make me feel good. This is totally one of those recipes.
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 2 red bell peppers or a 16 oz jar of roasted red peppers
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 medium sweet onion, thinly diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 (15 oz) can roasted tomatoes, diced
- 1/2 cup fresh basil, coarsely chopped (½ teaspoon dried basil works too)
- 1/2 pound cooked pasta
- Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving (optional)
- Salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste
- To make this dish spicy, add 1/4-1/2 teaspoons crushed red peppers (optional)
Instructions
- Start by roasting the red peppers. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking sheet lightly with cooking oil. Lay peppers on their sides, stems sideways. Roast for 20 minutes. Using tongs, give the peppers a half turn, then put it back in the oven for another 20 minutes.
- Let the peppers cool and peel the charred skins from the peppers with a paper towel. Also remove the seeds. Chop the peppers and set aside.
- In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and sauté for 3 minutes, or until softened. Stir in garlic, red peppers, and roasted tomatoes. Cook for 10 minutes over medium-low heat. Add chopped basil and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Pour sauce in a blender and puree/pulse until smooth but with some texture.
- Cook pasta according to cooking instructions. Drain.
- In a large bowl, combine pasta and sauce. Garnish lots of shredded Parmesan cheese and fresh basil, if desired.
Notes
If you have leftover sauce, freeze it. Sauce is amazing on roasted veggies, eggplant, in lasagna, on pizza or on meatball subs. Omit the cheese to make this recipe dairy free and vegan.
Recipe slightly adapted from Two Peas and their Pod.
Originally posted 2017-10-10 06:00:00.
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