Flaming Roasted Poblano Pasta Sauce

Flaming Roasted Poblano Pasta Sauce

Homemade pasta sauce is a wonderful comfort food, or at least it tastes like a comfort food. We incorporate fresh roasted poblano peppers and habanero powder ground from our own dehydrated garden habanero peppers preserved this year. If you don't have ground habanero peppers, you can incorporate store bought ground peppers, or try cayenne. Habanero is the best, though, for the heat and flavor.

Ingredients

• 2 poblano peppers
• 1 bulb garlic
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 15 ounces tomato sauce
• 3-4 fresh rosemary sprigs
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 1 teaspoon habanero powder
• 1 tablespoon olive oil + 2 teaspoons
• Salt to taste

Cooking Directions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Set garlic bulb over a piece of aluminum foil and drizzle with olive oil and salt. Bake 25 minutes.
• While garlic is baking, slice poblano peppers in half lengthwise and set onto a lightly oiled baking sheet, skin sides up. Bake about 15-20 minutes, or until skins char and loosen.
• Remove garlic from heat and cool. Squeeze garlic out of the skins and set aside.
• Remove poblano peppers from heat and cool. Peel skins away and chop. Set aside.
• Heat a saute pan to medium heat and add onion and celery with 1 teaspoon olive oil. Cook about 5 minutes, or until vegetables are softened.
• Add poblanos, garlic, half of the green onion, tomato sauce, rosemary, basil, habanero powder and salt to taste.
• Reduce heat to low and simmer about 10 minutes.
• Add olive oil and stir. Continue to simmer about 10 more minutes. The sauce will be fairly thick. NOTE: If you'd prefer your sauce a bit thinner, add a bit of broth or more tomato sauce.
• Serve!

NOTE: We served ours with linguini noodles and grilled shrimp. Delicious.