Roasted Red Bell Pepper Sauce

So this is one of those recipes I pinned a long time ago on Pinterest, and since starting my goal of trying one new recipe a week, I finally tried this recipe out.
(It also helped that red bell peppers were on sale 3/$1!! Oh yeah.)

I'm so glad I tried this, it's SOOOO yummy!

This sauce is packed full of some amazing flavor!

* Update, I have made this pasta a few more times and tweaked the recipe a little. I also now add baby spinach to sneak in even more veggies. If you want to add a little more protein you can also add some cooked chicken (cut into bite sized pieces) to the noodles and sauce.

Serves: about 6

Total time: About 20 min

Ingredients

2 or 3 red bell peppers

1/4 white onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/2 tsp. basil

1/2 c. half and half

1/3 c. Parmesan cheese

1 Tbsp. butter

2 handfuls roughly chopped baby spinach (optional)

salt

pepper

olive oil

Pre-heat the broiler in your oven. Slice the bell peppers in half and take out the seeds/insides.

Place them face down on a cookie sheet and brush each one with a little olive oil.

Place under broiler until the bell pepper skin is blackened.
Looking back now I'm not sure how long this part took...I want to say 7 or 8 minutes...

Place the bell peppers in a brown paper bag and fold up the end to close the bag. Leave for about 5 min. This will steam the skins.

Remove the outside skin from the bell pepper. (Just peel it with your hands, it will come off very easily but they will be hot, so use caution).

Roughly chop the bell peppers.

In a frying pan, melt the butter over medium heat, then saute the onion, garlic, basil, chopped bell peppers, and baby spinach, for about 5-7 min.
Add the half and half and lightly season with salt and pepper, and heat through.
Place mixture in the blender and blend until it reaches a sauce-like consistency.
Put mixture back in the frying pan and bring to a slight boil.

Add the Parmesan cheese and stir it all together.
Let it simmer for a few more minutes to let all of the yummy flavors blend,

and then pour it over your favorite pasta!
We have eaten this sauce with five cheese ravioli and penne noodles.
Mmmmmmmmm.
I hope you enjoy!!

For a printable version of this recipe, click here.
Recipe adapted from here.