Roasted Red Bell Pepper Tomato Sauce
Makes: 2 cups
Roasting is a wonderful way to maximize the flavor of vegetables, releasing their natural sugars and helping them caramelize. The result is a sweet, nutty, toasty flavor! Yes please! This is a great trick and tip on how to make your food taste delicious without the addition of salt, oil or sugar!
Here we serve it with steamed zucchini noodles but it’s also great on all roasted or steamed vegetables or made into a roasted bell pepper hummus.
Roasting is a wonderful way to maximize the flavor of vegetables, releasing their natural sugars and helping them caramelize. The result is a sweet, nutty, toasty flavor! Yes please! This is a great trick and tip on how to make your food taste delicious without the addition of salt, oil or sugar!
Here we serve it with steamed zucchini noodles but it’s also great on all roasted or steamed vegetables or made into a roasted bell pepper hummus.
Ingredients
- 3 large red bell peppers (about 10-12 ounces each)
- 3 medium sized whole Roma tomatoes
- 1 small red onion, peeled and quartered
- 1 garlic head (roasted) (about 1 tablespoon roasted flesh)
- ¼ cup house vegetable stock, (link), no salt
- ¼ teaspoon sweet smoked paprika
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- balsamic vinegar–just a sprinkle
Directions
Preheat oven to 450℉
Place parchment paper on a ½ sheet pan (about 13” x 18”)
Place the garlic in the oven first:
To roast the head of garlic, slice off the top ¼ of the bulb. Wrap the bulb first in a small piece of parchment paper then cover with aluminum foil. Roast in a 450℉ oven for about 30-40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. Squeeze the garlic flesh from the cloves and press together with the back of the spoon to make a garlic puree.
Slice off ⅛-inch off the top and bottom of the bell pepper and make a slit down one side. Pull open the pepper and remove the seeds and white membranes. Place on the prepared sheet pan.
- Add the Roma tomatoes and the quartered red onion onto the same pan.
- Roast the vegetables until the skins on the bell peppers are charred and blistered, about 20 minutes. Don’t let the tomatoes blacken: they are ready when their skins are blistered and they are collapsing.You may need to remove them from the oven before the bell peppers are ready. It’s okay to char the onions a bit.
- Once the bell peppers have blackened, remove the sheet pan from the oven. Using tongs, place the bell peppers in a small glass bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow it to steam for about 5-10 minutes, then with your fingers, remove the skins from the peppers and discard.
- Chop the onions, peppers and tomatoes, being sure to save all the juices.
- Transfer the chopped vegetables to a food processor, along with their juices, the vegetable stock, roasted garlic puree and smoked paprika. Process until smooth.
- Taste and add freshly ground black pepper and sprinkle in some balsamic vinegar for added brightness. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
Cook's Notes: - Serve the sauce on vegetable noodles, cauliflower rice, steamed sweet potato or brown rice.
- The sauce can be made up to 3 days in advance, stored in the refrigerator. I find the flavor gets better with time, even just one hour after cooking! Or freeze in an ice cube tray for future use! The flavors meld together nicely.
