Spaghetti & Sauce

Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Tomato and Roasted Red Bell Pepper Sauce seemed too long and descriptive a title, so I settled for the blasé Spaghetti & Sauce

Not all meals need to be exotic and exciting, right? Take the good old spaghetti and sauce, or mac-and-cheese, or even just rice-and-sambar, they can be jazzed up no doubt with our creativity as the limit... or they can be presented without much ado, as-is, hearty and rustic. Ah, yes, "rustic", a term guaranteed to perk up D's interest. (not!)

Anyway, the other day, we had this whole-wheat spaghetti with some peas and green beans, some herbs, tossed with a tomato-roasted-bell-pepper sauce - just the regular array of ingredients handy in my kitchen on an average day. It was tasty and hearty is all I can say.

And since I managed to make it on a weekend daytime rather than a weeknight meal, the picture seems to have turned out half-way decent considering it was a gloomy day and I don't have any special props/lighting for my photos than the good old Ball of Fire in the sky... so, mustering up the courage, this goes out to CLICK: Noodles November 2007 event created by Jai and Bee of Jugalbandhi

Ingredients

Sauce: 1 small jar roasted red bell peppers packed in water (or roast the peppers over open flame or under the broiler) 1 can diced tomatoes 4-6 cloves of garlic, minced 1 medium onion, diced finely (optional) 1 Tbsp chopped fresh (or dried) rosemary 1 Tbsp dried marjoram 1 Tbsp dried oregano leaves ¼ cup chopped fresh basil 2 Tbsp cayenne pepper powder 1 Tbsp paprika salt to taste (or any of your favorite herbs and seasoning)

Noodles: Whole wheat spaghetti, or fettucini or penne or any favorite pasta 1 cup frozen peas 1 cup chopped green beans (any other vegetables handy) salt to taste water as needed 1 tbsp olive oil

Preparation

1. Sauce: Blend the roasted peppers and tomatoes, bring to boil in a pan, toss in the other sauce ingredients including the herbs and seasonings to taste; optionally, I like to set aside a little of the diced canned tomatoes as I like the chunky texture it adds to the sauce
2. Noodles: boil the noodles in plenty of salted boiling water till al dente, throwing in the veggies if using
3. toss the noodles with sauce to desired sogginess, serve warm with favorite bread