Roasted Capsicum & Sausage Pasta

We landed back home, in Perth, after our honeymoon some weeks ago and I had the opportunity to catch up with my girlfriend (the one that inspired

this nutella cheesecake pot recipe

) and her sweet kids. We were sitting on the couch sipping a cuppa going over the highlights of the trip (I'll share soon!) and the milestones that her children had quickly surpassed whilst I've been busy living in Melbourne. She's a fabulous cook and has a delicious array of healthy recipes that I'll one day copy and alter to be my own. In fact her raw fudge recipe we enjoyed with our cup of tea is totally being shared here soon!

We got onto the subject of 'from scratch' as we both love to bake and cook our own recipes, altering to make them our own. You see,

the thing is, I've never made pasta sauce from scratch

, it's so cheap from the shops, the brands I buy are gluten free and it taste good. This completely baffles my friend, who, with a Spanish background just doesn't understand

why

I'd buy it when it's

'so easy to make yourself Jasmine!'

I asked for her recipe or more list of ingredients so that I could give it a go, however, somewhere between honeymoon banter, a 3month old who I just wanted to cuddle and a 3year old with some wicked dancing moves the list was never written down.

On the flight home to Melbourne, I said to my man (who wants to make his own passata) that I wanted to make my own pasta sauce, so on a recent trip to the Prahran Markets I picked up some scarlet coloured capsicums and fresh herbs to make into a delicious pasta sauce.

This is a simple not-too-capsicum-y-sauce that mingles well with the flavours from the fresh gluten free sausages

from Gary's Meats in Prahran (my favourite for flavourful gluten free sausages). After this win, perhaps this will be the year that I stop buying pasta sauce from the stores and be a little more adventurous with my pasta dishes!

Roasted Capsicum Sauce

Makes approximately 500ml

2tsp olive oil

2 large red capsicums

1/2 red onion, finely diced

1/2cup each fresh basil & parsley, finely diced

2cloves garlic, minced

1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes

1/2 - 1tsp castor sugar

pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 200degrees Celsius.

Brush oil over whole capsicums and place on a baking tray. Bake for approximately 10minutes before turning and cooking a further 10 minutes or so until the skin is charred. Remove from the oven, with tongs place the capsicums in a deep glass bowl (so as not to melt the glad wrap, nor stain plastic) cover with glad wrap and set aside for 10minutes or so to cool. Covering the capsicums in this manner aides to steam the skins from the capsicum.

Carefully peel the charred skins from the capsicums and remove the seeds & membranes from the inside the capsicum and discard. Retain the juices. Cut the capsicum into strips, place 3/4 of the capsicum into a blender of food processor along with the onion, herbs garlic & tin of tomatoes. Pulse to combine. Taste and add a little sugar and pepper to your liking. Pulse and taste again.

Transfer to a sterilized glass jar and keep in the fridge for up to one week.

To make the Roasted Capsicum & Sausage Pasta

(Serves 1-2, increase portions for more people)

Cook your preferred pasta al dente ( love Barilla’s gluten free spaghetti). Meanwhile remove skin from 2 good quality gluten free pork sausages and cook in a hot fry pan in 1tsp oil. Mash up the sausage to cook quickly and evenly. Turn heat to low and add about 1cup capsicum sauce to heat through. Drain pasta, keep 1/2cup cooking liquid. Return pasta to cooking pan with the sausage, capsicum sauce and a little of the cooking liquid. Toss to combine.

Serve piping hot with lots of freshly grated Parmesan and a few chilli flakes.