Roasted Red Pepper Fusilli

Attention, tomatophobes! Are you tired of feeling left out on spaghetti night? Embarrassed about clumsily pairing red wine with a cream sauce again? Then this is the sauce for you!

Sweet, tangy roasted red peppers, savory onions and mellow carrots blend to make this delicious tomato-free twist on classic red sauce, from the September issue of Vegetarian Times. The fusilli shape provides plenty of cling-friendly crags for the sauce, and of course, I used single-ingredient whole wheat pasta.

As with all my meals, whole plant foods take center stage on this plate. I had the vegetable-rich sauce over whole grains on one half of the plate, and a big pile of lightly steamed broccoli on the other. Total ingredients: 8. Tomatoes: 0. Yum rating: infinity.

7-Ingredient Roasted Red Pepper Fusilli
Total Kitchen Time: 30 minutes. Serves 2.

1 cup roasted red peppers, chopped (from the jar: peppers, citric acid)
1 carrot, chopped
1/2 sweet or yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Tbls. extra virgin olive oil
2 cups uncooked fusilli pasta

In a pan, fry peppers, carrot, onion, olive oil and garlic on med-high heat for 5 minutes.

Add 3/4 cup water, cover and simmer on med-low heat 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, set fusilli to boil.

After veggies are soft, remove from heat and puree well. I used an immersion blender.

Drain pasta, toss with sauce and serve with salt and freshly cracked pepper.