Yellow Pepper and Onion Ragu

I was craving pasta the other night, and I knew I wanted something a little different. Well, inspiration hit (thank god!) and I managed to combine some ingredients into one of the most glorious pastas I've ever made. Not only does it taste really, really good but it looks pretty. And I like pretty.

What you'll need:

• 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 1/2 pound of turkey sausage/ground turkey
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 14 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
• 3-5 cloves of garlic
• 2 cups (dried) whole wheat pasta
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil

First thing, wash your bell pepper really well. Cut the top of the bell pepper off and de-seed it. You'll want to use a yellow bell pepper for this recipe as it lends a bit of sweetness, but not too much to the ragu. Cut the bell pepper into thin strips so that it will cook quickly.

I think this is called "julienne"

Take your onion and cut it in half. Depending on how much you like onion, you can use either the whole onion, or just half. You'll want to chop the onion into slices about a 1/3'' thick or so. Basically, not slivers, but not huge chunks either.  Set aside the bell peppers and onions.

Take your ground turkey or turkey sausage and put it in a large, heavy skillet with 1 teaspoon of the olive oil. I used Itaian seasoned ground turkey for my recipe, but I would think any kind would work.

This package was actually a full pound, so I halved it. The rest is in the freezer for another night.

Brown the turkey in the skillet, stirring frequently. Don't worry about "browning" the pan. We'll deglaze that and the vegetables and ragu will just be even tastier.

**TIP** Remember to switch out your cooking utensils when working with raw meat. Once it's cooked, grab a new utensil.

Once the meat is browned and cooked through, remove it from the pan into a separate bowl. Pour another teaspoon of olive oil in the pan and toss in the onions and bell peppers. Stir them with the oil until nicely coated and let them cook down, until slightly browned.

Notice the browned pan. Make sure it doesn't get black!

 While the onions and peppers are cooking, go ahead and fill up a large pot with water. Salt the water and wait for it to boil. When it's ready, pour in the whole wheat pasta. (I used rotini for this dish, but you could also you penne, bowtie, shells, angel hair, etc.) When the vegetables are ready, add the cooked meat back in and pour in the red wine. Work at the bottom of the skillet to deglaze and reintroduce all the flavor stuck to the pan.)

a little steamy in here!

When you are done scraping the skillet, add the crushed tomatoes, dried basil, and red pepper flakes. Let the sauce cook together and reduce down while the pasta cooks.

Hell. Yes.

Serve heaping spoonfuls of this sauce over the pasta. Yes, heaping because it is so good. And pretty.

Super yummy, and pretty healthy overall too!