Roasted Red Peppa Sauce

My recipe for Roasted Red Peppa Sauce is simple with bold amazing flavors.

It is the perfect sauce for cheese or meat ravioli's or tortellini's. The sauce has gusto and yet a delicate balance because all of the ingredients meld together perfectly. It's husband approved and therefore becomes a go to sauce for those times when we just don't want a marinara or spaghetti sauce. As a matter of fact his portion size was ridiculously large! But don't tell him I said that.

Many years ago I made this sauce and served it over tortellini's as an appetizer course for a small dinner party with friends. That happened to be the star course of the evening. This sauce definitely has a wow factor and I'm bringing it back to life again and thrilled to share it with you.

• 24 oz. jar roasted red peppers or 2 huge red bell peppers (you roast them*)
• 1 - 8 oz. can tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup onion - minced
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup half and half
• 2 tbsp. garlic - minced
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 2 tbsp. butter
• salt and black pepper to taste

1.  Mince your garlic and your onion and set aside.
2. Take the peppers out of the jar if you are using jar peppers and place them on paper towels to absorb some of the liquid from the brine. Then give them all a rough chop.
3. In a deep skillet or wide sauce pot that has a lid, melt the butter over medium heat. When the butter is melted turn the heat back to medium low and add in the onions. Cook and stir for about 2 minutes then add in the garlic. Cook until the onions are softened and the garlic gives off that wonderful aroma. About 2-3 minutes more.
4. Next, add in the roasted peppers, the tomato sauce and the chicken broth. Stir. Add in freshly ground black pepper and some salt to taste. Go easy on the salt because of the salt in the canned tomato sauce, unless you are using your own garden tomato sauce.
5. Allow this to cook for about 45 minutes covered on low, low heat.
6. At this point after it had cooked, I used my hand held blender to puree parts of the sauce. I pureed it but left some chunks of pepper for texture. And finally I added in the half and half cream and stirred it well. If you don't have a hand held blender, use a food processor and pulse a couple of times or use a blender on the appropriate setting.

Sauce up your favorite ravioli's or cheese tortellini's for a fabulous weeknight or weekend meal.

*To roast your own bell peppers: Lay them on a sheet pan and rub with a little olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast them in a 425° oven until they start to blacken and blister - about 20-30 minutes. Remove them from the oven and place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let them rest for a while and you'll see they begin to soften and wilt. Uncover them and remove the stem and seeds and you are ready to chop them up.

COST: This sauce, because of a find of a large jar of peppers (24 ounces) that only cost me $2.00 at a job lot store came out to $3.28. My on sale ravioli's at $1.00 per bag and the whole dinner cost just $4.28.