Roasted pepper, tomato & basil spaghetti

New Year diet resolutions are easy to make and even easier to break if you don't have the right culinary armoury. Here we look at a really simple Mediterranean-inspired meat-free dinner that brings out the natural sugars in red peppers and tomatoes after they have been slow roasted.

How long you roast for is down to taste or hunger. Aim for one hour - more if you can. So long as the over is not too hot, the longer you roast the more intense the flavour will be.  

Preparation: 10minutes
Cooking: minimum one hour 
Serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 red peppers, de-seeded and quartered
• 4 large tomatoes - cut in half - or a punnet of cherry tomatoes, whole
• 1 small onion or 1/2 large onion - quartered
• 2 cloves of garlic - peeled
• 2 handfuls fresh basil - chopped
• A good glug of olive oil
• Enough spaghetti or pasta of your choice to serve 2 people

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 170 degree C.
    
2. Place the peppers, tomatoes, onion and garlic on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil. Give everything a good toss to coat with the oil. 
    
3. Place in the oven for at least 60 minutes - turn or toss if the skins start to blacken.
    
4. Remove the vegetables from the oven and immediately place the peppers in a bowl and cover with cling film. Leave to cool. Then, peel any blackened skin off the peppers. The charred skin is bitter and can cause some people indigestion. You are now left with sweetened roasted peppers that smell fantastic.
    
5. Place the roasted vegetables in a bowl and blend with a hand blender until you have a smooth sauce.
    
6. Cook the pasta as per cooking instructions and just before you are ready to serve place the sauce in the microwave for 3 minutes, just to heat it through. Mix the sauce with the pasta, add the chopped basil leaves and serve immediately. 

This sauce freezes well and can be prepared in advance.

Photo by Keri liwi on Unsplash