Eating Italian

Last night for dinner I ate Italian. It was DELICIOUS!!! Spaghetti with Pomodoro sauce, roasted red peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, and sauted spinach. I did buy the sun-dried tomatoes, considering it's winter and I live in an apartment, and therefore would have quite the hard time sun-drying my own tomatoes... Anyways, the only thing I was really missing in this dish was real Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (aka Parmesan). I have that Kraft stuff, but I don't like it too much... I'd rather have the real stuff that I could use my circular cheese grater for, like the kind they have at the Olive Garden! =P

So here's the picture of the finished dish, though it doesn't even come close to capturing the true essence of it. Nor the smell, oh my gosh it smelled sooooo good! And tasted even better!!! =D

Here are the recipes I used:

Pomodoro Sauce
6 tomatoes (I used plum tomatoes cuz they were the least expensive)
4 cloves garlic (or more, I used 6 just to use up the bulb)
Olive oil to coat pan
4 fresh basil leaves, chopped up (or 1 tsp dried)
Sea salt to taste

Puree tomatoes in blender until smooth.
Meanwhile, heat oil in medium pot, and saute garlic until tender. Add tomatoes, and simmer 20 minutes.
Add basil; remove from heat.

If you're using dried basil, add it in when you add the tomatoes. I did use dried because I could not find fresh herbs at Superstore, so I'll have to look elsewhere.


Roasted Red Peppers
Preheat broiler to 475.
Wash peppers and place whole on baking dish. Place on highest rack in oven to broil, but make sure the peppers aren't touching the element. Turn when needed until all skin is black and blistered. Don't worry, the skins will probably crack open in some places, just keep roasting them.
Once peppers are black and blistered, remove from oven, and place in Ziploc bag for 10-15 minutes to steam them.
Remove peppers from bag and peel off skin. Cut in half and remove seeds. Slice into strips.

I'm not sure how you should store them, but I just put them in a plastic container because I knew I'd be using them soon.