Roasted Tomato Vodka Sauce

As y’all know, I love making dishes with as much fresh fruits and vegetables as I can.  I picked up some nice vine ripe tomatoes at the farmers market and decided they were perfect for a nice sauce.  So I also grabbed some of the beautiful green peppers close by and had my main ingredients.

I have to use the tomato sauce that mom and I put up for the winter until I get fresh vine ripe tomatoes. Not that this sauce isn’t awesome, it is!  It is canned within an hour of being picked fresh from our gardens and it gets us through the fall and winter months.

It’s just that I can not bring myself to buy those tomatoes on the grocery store shelf that was ripened in a hot house or just in the box they were packed in on the way to market.  There is just a lack of flavor and sweetness in those tomatoes and you can truly taste the difference and lack of freshness.

So I started my sauce with some fresh ground sausage and put the tomatoes and peppers in the broiler to roast.

Now my kitchen started smelling so good with the tomatoes roasting with some olive oil and seasonings cooking away and the sausage browning.  Then out to the garden for some fresh basil and oregano.

My beautiful tomatoes and peppers roasted and ready to become sauce.

Now to add them to the browned sausage and start the magic.

I ran the peppers through the food processor and add them to the sauce after breaking down the tomatoes, followed by the vodka and fresh shaved PARMIGIANO-REGGIANO.

then the finished product……

 

Ingredients:

• 6 fresh vine ripe tomatoes
• 2 green peppers
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 lb. ground sausage (I prefer Purnell’s “Old Folks” Sausage)
• olive oil for coating tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped basil chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped oregano chopped
• 1/2 cup PARMIGIANO-REGGIANO.
• 1/2 cup vodka
• pasta of your choice 

Cut your peppers and tomatoes and place on a baking sheet.  Drizzle with good amount of olive oil and sprinkle with half of your fresh herbs and salt and pepper.  Broil for about 10 minutes or until just starting to char.

While these roast, brown your sausage in sauté pan large enough to hold the roasted tomatoes as well.   Dice your oregano now as well.

Remove the tomatoes and peppers from the oven and place tomatoes in sauté pan with sausage, and run the peppers through a food processor or dice , then add to your sauté pan along with the diced garlic. Cook over medium heat while mashing the tomatoes with a wooden spoon to release the meat and juices.  Add the other half of the fresh herbs, stir and cook an additional 5 minutes.

Spoon over your cooked pasta and shave a little more PARMIGIANO-REGGIANO and enjoy.