Sweet Pepper Sauce

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Moxy Thoughts

March 23, 2016 in

I love comfort foods.  Things that you roast, saute and grill particularly hold a dear place in my heart, and stomach.  By combining really fresh and in season ingredients with a variety of interesting spices you can create so many complex flavors.  For me, the combination of a delectable roasted sweet pepper combined with fresh tomatoes and roasted garlic may be the ultimate marriage.

The best part of this sauce is that it’s only a handful of ingredients that form the base, but you can add nearly anything else you have in your pantry to increase the flavors and you can pour it over any type of savory base. It works on whole wheat pasta, any quinoa and my personal favorite is on top of a spiral zucchini or squash. If you haven’t purchased a spiralizer yet for your veggies, stop reading now and go check this out.  This changed my life. http://www.amazon.com/Veggetti-Table-Top-Spiralizer-Quickly-Vegetables/dp/B00VQTHRAA

I’ve been working on this recipe for a few years now and have found there are a few ways to mess it up, but many ways to make it even better, so experiment by adding your own favorite veggies and spices.  Let’s start with the basics…

First the sweet peppers.  It’s great that now you can just buy a bag of these delectable peppers at any grocery store.  I always try and use the bag within a few days of buying them, just because the flavors are still fresh and the peppers are still firm.  But honestly, they last at least 2 weeks if you need them to in your crisper box in the fridge so long as you don’t wash them right away.

Next, find some ripe and juicy tomatoes.  Any kind will do and the more you experiment the better your sauces will be.  I like to mix up a variety of types and use whatever looks the most fresh in the stores at the time.  For this batch, I used the multi-colored cherry tomatoes because I thought the colors would look amazing, especially after roasting.

Last, get a nice round bulb of garlic and get peeling.  This intimidates a lot of people but here are the two most important tricks for garlic.  First, break up all the cloves, cut the tip and tail of each and smash them with the side of your chef knife.  This will loosen all the skin so that you don’t have to spend hours peeling each one.  Second, buy one of these fantastic bars (this link is for the Crate and Barrel one which I think is cute as well as functional, but there are many versions to choose from on Amazon as well) to wipe your hands clean after using the garlic and you won’t smell the ingredient for the rest of the evening on your skin. http://www.crateandbarrel.com/rub-away-bar/s668664

That’s it for your prepping ingredients – so easy!

 

 

Ingredients

1 bag of sweet peppers

Ripe and Juicy tomatoes (any variety)

1 bulb of garlic, peeled

Directions

  • Preheat your to a high broil setting
  • Line a large cookie pan with aluminum foil
  •  Pour a little bit of extra virgin olive oil on the pan
  • Place the washed peppers, tomatoes and peeled garlic cloves on the pan, leaving room in between them so that you don’t end up steaming all these delicious flavors out.
  • Next drizzle some of that EVOO all over and add your salt, pepper and spice.
  • I like to add some ground up cumin and cinnamon as these are both magic spices for anyone that suffers from Diabetes.
  • Slide your sheet into the oven and take a look every 10 minutes or so for browning.
  • You want to see some of that color come but don’t want the peppers completely black.
  • As you see a side getting more than 40% dark, flip the pepper over for the next 10 minutes.
  • The whole roast shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes.
  • Once it’s cooled enough to touch, chop the peppers and tomatoes up a bit so your sauce doesn’t have uneven veggies throughout.  The seeds of the peppers are fully edible, but remove the green tops.
  • Start a large saute pan on your stove with a generous drizzle of EVOO and drop in 2 tablespoons of a good quality, low sugar tomato paste.  You can make your own, but the store bought ones are very good and last a few recipes so it’s not really worth the effort.
  • Let the paste brown for a minute and then add 2 cans of diced tomatoes.  Again, you can do this yourself or buy a can of the organic, low sugar variety for under $2.
  • Mix with your paste and warm until nearly bubbling and add your roasted veggies to the pan.
  • If you like some extra heat, add a teaspoon of chili flakes to your pan and stir well, otherwise, just lower the heat and let the whole thing meld together.
  • Don’t let it boil or it’ll thicken too quickly.
  • Stir every 5 minutes and after about 20 minutes, you’re ready to use on top of your favorite pasta, spiralized veggie or even use as a base for a bruschetta the next morning with a pinch of basil and parmesan cheese.
  • If you don’t like a chunky tomato sauce, you can put the whole thing in a blender for a few minutes or use your hand held smoothie maker to smash the ingredients up.

The Moxy Mamma

Hi I’m Anna. I’m a mom, wife, full time executive, part time amateur cook and love to be creative whenever I can.

In 2014, my husband received news that he had Type II Diabetes.I’m on a mission to eat great food and create delicious recipes that are packed with flavor instead of added sugar.

Do Good, Eat Great and Put some Moxy on your plate! (more about Anna)