Spaghetti with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce and Goat Cheese
This vegetarian Spaghetti with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce and Goat Cheese recipe is an easy weeknight meal, and a great alternative to tomato-based sauces! It's naturally sweet, slightly spicy, and creamy from the goat cheese.
Cook pasta according to directions on package in very salty water, stopping cooking one minute before cooking time indicated on package for al dente.
Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, sauté the onions in 2 tablespoons of the extra-virgin olive oil over medium heat, until softened and starting to turn brown and slightly caramelized (about 5 minutes).
Add the minced garlic and sauté until fragrant (about 30 seconds.)
Add the roasted red peppers (including the liquid from the jar), and basil leaves. Sauté until basil leaves have wilted (about 1 minute).
Using an immersion blender, blend the sauce together directly in the pot until desired texture is reached. I stopped blending just before it got super creamy, so some texture remained.
Add half of the crumbled goat cheese to the sauce and stir until melted. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Transfer pasta directly from the cooking pot to the sauce, along with 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water, and allow to finish cooking for the last minute or so in the sauce, stirring together to coat the spaghetti. Add more pasta water if the sauce looks dry.
Serve drizzled with remaining extra-virgin olive oil and remaining crumbled goat cheese. Garnish with chiffonade cut basil, and some fresh cracked black pepper, if desired.
Notes
Don't have an immersion blender? You can use a standing blender or a food processor as an alternative. Or, you can use a potato masher for a very rustic textured sauce (if you do this, I recommend dicing the onions very finely and mincing the garlic with a microplane zester).
Time Saving Tip: You can make this sauce in advance and keep in an airtight container or jar in your fridge for up to a week or freezer for up to three months.
I used chickpea spaghetti, which is gluten free and grain free, but you can use any kind you want, or another pasta shape.
The provided nutrition information does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. Feel free to calculate it yourself using this calculator or by adding the recipe to Yummly.