Creamy, Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Sauce (Paleo and Vegan Option)

One of the best purchases that I've made so far this year was to buy a julienne peeler, or as we like to call it, the 'zoodler'. I mentioned it briefly when I posted my go-to salad, and I use it to make my favorite Carrot & Courgette Fritters. Basically, I use it for everything. It hardly ever leaves the drying rack in our kitchen because I'm constantly using it to slice up vegetables to mix into our food. 

So as you can probably imagine, we're slicing up courgette's left and right to make our own grain free pastas. Not only is this a healthier alternative to eating regular pasta, but it's also much more filling because of all the fiber you're taking in. 

It also means that I get to play around in the kitchen more to come up with different ways to eat our zoodles. After spending enough time oogling over pictures of red pepper sauces online, I finally made it around to try it out myself with a few tweaks to make it grain and dairy free. The roasted red peppers give the sauce a subtle sweetness with a creamy texture while the garlic and onions provide a more robust flavor.

Feel free to add your own noodles to this sauce because even without the courgette you're still getting a decent serving of vegetables between the peppers, onions, and garlic. 

Ingredients

•  2 red peppers
• 1 white onion, roughly chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast*
• 1 tablespoon arrowroot starch or corn starch
• salt and pepper to your taste
• 1 bunch chopped parsley and/or basil

*If you don't need this to be dairy free and you don't have nutritional yeast on hand you can sub it for parmesan to get that cheesy taste. 

Method 

1. Heat your oven to 500F/260C and roast your red peppers on a baking sheet for about 20-25     

minutes until they become charred. 

2. While the peppers are roasting, saute your garlic and onion in the olive oil on a large skillet for about 4-5 minutes on medium heat until they soften. Once they have sauteed long enough, set your skillet aside to cool until you're ready to blend everything.

3. Take this time to either slice your courgette or prepare your gluten free pasta according to the directions on the package.

4. When your peppers are done roasting, take them out of the oven and allow them to cool for at least 5-10 minutes. You're going to need to peel the skin off so they need to be cool enough that you don't burn your fingers. After they have charred, the skin shrinks up a bit making it easy to grab onto a bit of skin letting your peel it easily. After both peppers are peeled, remove and discard the stem and seeds.

5. Next, add your sauteed garlic and onions, the peppers, nutritional yeast, broth, arrowroot/cornstarch, salt and pepper to a blender and blend until smooth.

6. Once you have smooth, creamy mixture add your sauce back to your skillet that you used to saute earlier and reheat the red pepper sauce on medium heat bringing it to a simmer. Feel free to add any additional seasonings at this point: oregano, red pepper flakes, etc. Play around with what you like. 

7. If you are using zoodles, make sure to heat them up in a skillet before adding your sauce. Top with fresh herbs and parmesan and enjoy.