Capsicum Tomato Pasta

A few days ago I decided to purchase some really nice red and ripe tomatoes. They looked so fresh and juicy that I couldn't resist. I haven't made tomato sauce from scratch so I decided that I might as well buy tomatoes and make some :) I had a nice green capsicum (bell pepper) lying around my fridge so I decided that with the nice blend of flavours would make a nice dinner meal.






Ingredients:
Capsicum (I used green)
Spaghetti 
Tomatoes (~4)
Garlic
Cooking Oil
Herbs (I used cumin, thyme and rosemary) 
Cheddar Cheese

• Step 1, boil some water in a pot. 

• Step 2, while the water is taking it time to boil, cut up the garlic and capsicum.
• Step 3, when the water boils, place the (whole) tomatoes in.
• Step 4, when the tomatoes soften and you notice the skin peeling off, drain the water and transfer them to a big bowl.
• Step 5, fill the pot with more water and heat to boil
• Step 6, while waiting for the water to boil, mash the tomatoes (I usually do so with a potato masher, but be careful that the juice might squirt out)

At this point, your tomato mixture should be very watery. Do not worry about the skin pieces and lumps of tomatoes. The skin will soften with further cooking and the sauce will be chunky instead of just a smooth texture.

• Step 7, add in the herbs into the tomato mixture.
• Step 8, when the spaghetti almost reaches al dente, heat up the oil in a saucepan.

• Step 9, when the oil heats up, throw the cut up garlic into the pan.
• Step 10, when the garlic fragrance is in the air throw in the capsicum.
• Step 11, by now the spaghetti should be done so drain the spaghetti and , leave it one side first.
• Step 12, when the capsicum seems to have soften slightly, add in the tomato mixture.
• Step 13, as the sauce is very watery, allow the sauce to boil for a (rather long) while but ensure that it does not burn at the bottom of the pan by mixing it every few minutes (or seconds)
• Step 14, when the sauce thickens, add in the spaghetti and mix.
• Step 15, if you like a cheesy texture along with the pasta, add the cheese and mix. Or you could just sprinkle them on top and serve :D

Most people think that making tomato sauce is hard because of blanching (where you take tomatoes from boiling water into ice cold water to peel off the outer skin). I usually just wash my tomatoes, boil them and mash them. I know that there are some who are worried about tomatoes having a layer of wax or pesticides, but since I'm not super uptight about that sort of thing, this is my way to make quick tomato sauce. 

As to why I chose green capsicum, it was firstly because I love colour contrast in foods and well I was suppose to make turkish meatballs with them but since I ended up using my mince for something else, my capsicum looked really lonely. Haha. 

Oh yes, a potato masher. It is one of my must-have in the kitchen. I believe anyone who has ever made mash potato, tomato, carrot, banana (anything mash for that matter) would understand how unbelievably hard and tedious it is to use the back of a fork and slowly try to cut up the chunks to the best of our abilities. With a masher it makes things so much faster and easier. Plus the food is mashed much more evenly with little big chunks. This little kitchen tool has made my life so much easier and It is always important to check the quality of the masher you buy. The things to take note of when buying a masher is...

1. STRUCTURE. Get mashers that have the bottom plate supported on both sides. Some mashers are well supported with both ends of the mashing plate connected to the handle while for some, only one side is connected. If the metal is easily bent, this will cause a problem if force is directed more at the end that is not supported. The plate will start to bend towards the handle and you'd have trouble trying to mash anything with it. 
2. MATERIAL. This one is obvious. Generally we would stick to getting a metal or silicon masher with a insulated handle. Why not plastic? Well there's always a chance that it might melt or it is not strong enough.
3. MASHER PLATE. There are many designs when it comes to the plates. It can be circles or squares or even oddly shaped. When mashing, most people wouldn't think too much about the design of the plate as long as it can mash up the ingredients. I prefer to get small circles or squares as they tend to do the job faster and because if I were to make things such as tomatoes, my tomato chucks would tend to be of similar size instead of a mixture of big and small pieces.

Well, these are generally the things I take note of when I buy mashers. If you have any other tips to look out for when buying mashers, feel free to share :) Thank You! 

Hugs for everyone~ Mash away!!