Tomato-Free Tomato Sauce

I have found a new secret to happiness - a sauce that tastes like tomato sauce, looks like tomato sauce - but isn't!

(Meatballs in Tomato-free Tomato Sauce)

Being allergic to tomatoes really bums me out. Being allergic to gluten - there are replacements. Onions - a lot of times you can't taste them. While they add something - most people don't notice that my food doesn't have it. But tomatoes? HOW DO YOU REPLACE TOMATOES?

Pizza. Spaghetti and Meatballs. Chicken Parmesan. These are flavors I truly miss.

And then one night, as I was dreaming away, I had an idea. I didn't think it would turn out this good - but it did!

It's roasted red peppers sauce - but for some reason, it doesn't taste like roasted red peppers.

Now - I haven't had tomato sauce in 4 years...so I really can't say. I can say it reminds me of tomato sauce or that it looks like tomato sauce.

But Dan has had tomatoes - and he was shocked that I had managed to create a sauce so similar!

So for those people who - like me - suffer from an allergy to tomatoes, or tomatoes just make a mess in your stomach - this one is for you.

Ingredients:

4 red bell peppers (try to get ones with four legs, not three)

4 cloves garlic

2 tbsp olive oil

1 hot pepper

kosher salt

2 tbsp water

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius

2. Cut your bell peppers into large, wide strips. Clean them from the seeds and white center.

3. Cut the top off your hot pepper and cut into 3-4 chunks

4. Line a cookie sheet/oven pan with aluminum foil

5. Place your bell peppers face down on the aluminum

6. Sprinkle with olive oil and kosher salt

7. Cook in oven for 25-30 minutes, until the skin on your bell peppers slightly blackens and bubbles in certain places

8. Remove bell peppers from oven and let cool

9. Once cooled, remove the bubbled skin from your bell peppers - as much as possible. Some can stay on.

10. In a food processor, grind your roasted bell peppers and hot pepper, along with the garlic, until smooth. Mix in 2 tbsp water.

11. If you are cooking it with something (for example, lasagna, chicken paremsan) then just pour it on and cook together. If you are using it as a sauce, saute it for 2 minutes so that the garlic slightly cooks.

Enjoy!

This is what the sauce looks like when making chicken parmesan - looks like the real deal!

This is the chicken parm after the baking: