Roasted peppers and tomatoes sauce with pasta

I had not heard of pasta and pizzas until my late twenties. Other cuisines were fairly unknown when I grew up. No multinational food giants ventured to do business in India then. Even in restaurants that prided continental or other cuisine, I had only come across fewer items on the menu. Then,few years of living in the Middle East was my introduction to foods that were unfamiliar until then. Friends would recommend certain restaurants and choice dishes. Nonetheless, our food choices remained limited for long. While pizzas were easily liked, we were still warming up to pasta and would give it a pass most times. Even with a great sauce, my husband felt pasta was bland.
To make pasta at home, I had never ventured so much so that my friends used to make pasta and invite my daughter to have some fun food with her mates. She was then thrown to living on pasta in her first year at university when we paid for a set number of meals from the dining services available. There she was introduced to varieties of sauces that go with pasta and found that she quite liked them too.
Thus, she picked up a 500 gram pack of the vermicelli from the super market to make it for us. We discussed the sauces and I decided to make one with roasted bell peppers, tomatoes with herbs and onions. We also made a mild peppery stir fry to accompany the dish. With few choice herbs, now it is a good meal to have once in a while.


 Roasted peppers and tomato sauce with pasta

Ingredients:
Makes three hefty servings
250 grams vermicelli/ angel hair pasta
Salt
Few drops of oil
1 teaspoon oil
1/2 teaspoon oregano coarsely crushed


For the sauce:
2 large red bell peppers
5 large tomatoes
1 big red onion
Paprika to taste
Salt to taste
1 small stalk fresh basil
2 tablespoons oil

For the vegetable stir fry:
1 each of a green bell pepper and a yellow bell pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil
Salt to taste
Paprika to taste

Method:
Cook the vermicelli in boiling water with a pinch of salt and a few drops of oil.
When it is done, drain the water by transferring the vermicelli to a colander.
Place under running cold water and cool it.
Place the red bell peppers on direct flame of the stove. Keep turning it on the fire evenly charring the outer skin.
Place the tomatoes, cut in halves in a baking tray. Put them in a pre heated 160 degrees C oven for about 15 - 17 minutes or until they are well roasted.
Remove the charred skin off the bell peppers and peel the tomatoes.
Make a puree of both the vegetables together.
Chop the onion as desired.
Heat oil in a pan. Add the onions and sauté until they are translucent.
Add chopped fresh basil into it and toss just until the oil coats the basil.
Add salt, paprika and the puree and cook on medium heat until it becomes a thick sauce.
Remove from the stove and transfer to a serving dish.
In a shallow pan, heat the oil for the stir fry and add all the listed ingredients.
Stir fry until the vegetables have cooked a bit while they still hold a bit of their crunch.

Remove from the stove.
In the same pan, heat the 1 teaspoon oil and add the oregano. Toss the pasta in this for a few minutes.

To serve, place the required quantity of pasta on the plate. Make a small well in the middle and add the sauce there.
Surround the pasta with the stir fry vegetables and serve.