Fettuccine with Roasted Bell Pepper Sauce

and Sautéed Vegetables

Sorry for the almost unprecedented delay of two weeks between posts!  My laptop has had some issues and needed to spend a week with the help desk.  Anyway, I had been feeling like another pasta dish was in order for my blog for some time, but plain old tomato sauce or pesto was not going to make the cut.  Roasted red peppers are one of my favorite foods whether on sandwiches, antipasto salads or just on their own, roasted red peppers are sweet and tangy and delicious.  The sauce for this dish was a nice twist from the usual and the sautéed vegetables gave it a healthy crunch!

Ingredients

1 box fettuccine

3 red bell peppers

3 yellow bell peppers

1 zucchini

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup white wine

2 cloves garlic

1 medium yellow onion

1 tsp red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

Salt and pepper to taste

Parmesan cheese to garnish

I had been wanting to roast my own bell peppers FOREVER and I finally got around to it with this recipe! However, if you are not up to the task you can use one entire jar of roasted red or yellow peppers and a bit of the oil from the jar.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.  Place two red and two yellow bell peppers on a sheet pan in the oven and roast until blackened on all sides. Once the peppers are blackened, after about  thirty to forty minutes, take them out of the oven and place them in a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Covering the bowl with plastic wrap allows the peppers to steam and makes them much easier to peel after about ten minutes.

Put a large pot of salted water on high heat and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, cook the fettuccine according to the directions on the box. Thinly slice the onion and garlic and place in a large sauté pan with one tablespoon olive oil. Sauté until onions are soft and translucent then add white wine and red wine vinegar and cook until mixture is slightly reduced.  At this point it should be very easy to peel the roasted red and yellow peppers in the bowl and cut them into a rough chop.  

Once the peppers are slightly cut up, add them to the sauté pan.  Take an emersion blender and purée the entire mixture.  If you don't have an emersion blender it should be just as easy to transfer the mixture in two batches to a blender and purée until smooth. Once the mixture is puréed keep it over low heat to stay warm.

Using a sharp knife, julienne, or slice into thin matchstick shaped slices, the remaining red and yellow bell peppers as well as the zucchini.  Place them in a separate sauté pan with one tablespoon of olive oil and sauté for several minute until cooked through but still crisp.