Vaughn's Red Pepper Sauce With Vegan Sausages - Serve On A Bun For A Great 4th Of July Entrée. Also Great On Pasta!

This slow cooked red bell pepper sauce is great with sausages or served on top of a plate of rigatoni pasta.

Follow Foods For Long Life on FACEBOOK !

More Recipes from the Visit
I've been featuring my family's recipes from their recent visit. The other day I shared my daughter-in-law Karina's Garlic Vinaigrette Salad Dressing.  Today I'm going to share my son Vaughn's red bell pepper sauce.
During our recent annual family gathering, we had a mix of vegetarians, pescatarians and meat eaters so the menu is often eclectic. The appetizers and salads were all vegan as was the German Chocolate cake for dessert.  For the main course, I made a 20 pound lasagna with lots of grilled veggies (like eggplant, zucchini, portobello mushrooms, etc.) and my son made two pots of red bell pepper sauce: one for the vegan Field Roast Apple Sage sausages and one for the Willie Bird turkey sausages. Unlike me who likes all meals to be completed in 1 hour or less, Vaughn loves to make rich, slow cooked sauces, Julia Child style, which can take hours. But the results are worth the time and effort! This one certainly was.
Don't be fooled by the short list of ingredients and absence of any herbs. The slow cooking, wine and just salt and pepper give this dish a rich and complex flavor.

I didn't get a picture of Vaughn making the featured recipe but he is no stranger to the kitchen. Here he is  making his famous enchiladas!

Field Roast makes my favorite vegan "grain" sausage.

For your 4th of July party, serve smoked apple sage Field Roast sausages on a whole wheat bun topped with this red bell pepper sauce!

Red Bell Pepper Sauce with Vegan Apple Sage Sausages
[serves 6]
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon Earth Balance vegan buttery spread
2 large onions (or 3 medium), thinly sliced
4 large red bell peppers (or 6 medium), thinly sliced
One 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1/3 cup red wine
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste
6 Field Roast apple sage vegan sausages


Add olive oil and Earth Balance to a large saucepan or Dutch oven and heat on a low temperature until buttery spread is melted. (Don't be tempted to use just oil or margarine alone - the combination gives the sauce a wonderful French, buttery consistency).
Add onions and sauté for 15 minutes, stirring frequently. 
Add red bell peppers and sauté another 15 minutes, stirring frequently.
Stir in salt and pepper.
Add diced tomatoes and wine. Bring to a low boil, stir and lower heat to a low simmer.
Cover and cook for 1 1/2  to 4 hours, stirring every half hour and adding water if it gets too dry. (I cooked it for 2 hours and it was wonderful). 
Add vegan sausages in the last 15 minutes. (DO NOT do this for turkey sausages which would need to first be seared and then cooked in the sauce for the last hour).
If, at the end of cooking, the sauce is too watery, remove the cover and cook until it reaches the right consistency.
Serve the sauce and sausages on a bun or over pasta.


Per serving (one sausage and 1/6 pepper sauce): 353.8 calories, 23.2 g fat, 2.0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 28.5 g protein, 25.8 g carbohydrates and 6.5 g dietary fiber.


Per serving (sauce only): 113.8 calories, 4.2 g fat, 1.0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 2.5 g protein, 14.8 g carbohydrates and 3.5 g dietary fiber.