Red Pepper & Tomato Sauce
This rich and creamy pasta sauce is packed with hidden veggies, but no one will ever know! It's so delicious and the perfect cozy sauce for your favorite pasta!
Ingredients
- 1 medium yellow onion roughly chopped
- 6-8 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 small carrot roughly chopped small
- 1 large red bell pepper deseeded & roughly chopped
- 2½-3 pounds tomatoes, roma or plum* roughly chopped and seeds removed
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- ½ tablespoon thyme
- ½-¾ teaspoon salt
- pepper, to taste
- 1-2 tablespoon aged balsamic vinegar
- basil optional for serving
Instructions
- In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, add chopped onion, garlic, carrot and peppers with about ¼ teaspoon of salt. Cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding a small splash of water it needed to prevent sticking. (Note- you could also use olive oil instead of water sauteeing if preferred.)
- While that is cooking, remove any hard centers and seeds from the tomatoes and roughly chop. Add them to the pot along with oregano, thyme and another ¼ teaspoon of salt. Mix well and cover. Let this simmer over low heat for 40- 60 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove the heat and use an immersion blender to carefully blend up the sauce to your desired consistency. (Be careful not to burn yourself. If using a stand blender, allow the tomatoes to cool before blending.)
- Stir in the balsamic and pepper to taste. Adjust the salt by adding ⅛ teaspoon at a time. Serve hot over your favorite pasta!
Notes
*Roma or plum varieties of tomato work great for sauce because they have a small amount of seeds and do not hold a lot of moisture. However, other meaty varieties will work in this recipe! I often use plums along with whatever tomato variety I have an abundance of in my garden at the time.
Recipe makes around 6-7 cups of sauce.