Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Pasta Sauce

My wonderful friend Aileen introduced this recipe to me the other week. It’s a delightful pasta sauce that is sweet and succulent. You may think adding sugar here is unorthodox but here it is crucial – so don’t skip it! The roasted red peppers add a juicy character to the sauce too. It’s also one of the simplest pasta sauce recipes I’ve encountered – so this is perfect for those only beginning to venture into the world of sauce-making.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 red bell pepper

1 400g can of chopped tomatoes

½ a medium onion

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 vegetable stock cube

1 tablespoon dried basil

Method:

Cut bell pepper into chunks and place on some aluminium foil under a grill on high heat, with the skin side facing up. Leave until the skin is black and blistered, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, dice the onion into small chunks and fry gently in the olive oil over a medium heat until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and stir for about 2 more minutes. Add chopped tomatoes and break up the stock cube and leave on the heat for about 10 minutes.

Remove bell pepper from the oven and gently peel off its skin and discard it. Peeling the skin should be very easy – if the pepper is sufficiently cooked it should come off if you pinch with your index finger and thumb and pull back (but be careful not to burn your hands!) Finely chop the pepper, it should be very soft and tender. Stir the pepper into the tomato and onion mixture.

With a potato masher, gently crush the tomato mixture for about 5 minutes until the texture is more smooth than chunky. Add the basil, sugar, salt and pepper and continue mashing.

Leave the sauce to simmer on a low heat, stirring occasionally for about 15 more minutes. It should be noticeably darker than the colour of the raw tomatoes in their tin.

Serve over a bed of your favourite pasta – I went for penne, having also stirred in some fried mushrooms. If you wish to ‘de-veganize’ the pasta, add a sprinkle of mozzarella or parmesan, and enjoy!