tomato sauce and roasted peppers

i have a whole list of foodie blogs i hit up when i want to be inspired. today i have to go to the store right after work and i forgot to pick out a recipe from one of my cookbooks before hand....so to the internets i go. my only inspiration were some beautiful red peppers i saw at the store the other day that i haven't stopped thinking about. i quickly decide that i want to make some roasted red peppers. i then came upon a recipe for a quick tomato sauce that used lemon zest...and since i am in love with adding lemon juice to pasta i feel like this will be a good one to try out. and it's also budget friendly so here we go.

roasted peppers

tomato sauce
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
3 medium cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 28-ounce can crushed red tomatoes
zest of one lemon

Combine the olive oil, red pepper flakes, sea salt, and garlic in a cold saucepan. Stir while you heat the saucepan over medium-high heat, saute just 45 seconds or so until everything is fragrant - you don't want the garlic to brown. Stir in the tomatoes and heat to a gentle simmer, this takes just a couple minutes. Remove from heat and carefully take a taste (you don't want to burn your tongue)...If the sauce needs more salt add it now. Stir in the lemon zest reserving a bit to sprinkle on top of your pasta.

add ons
i also sauted some chicken with the roasted peppers (thank goodness i did this)

well....it looked pretty...and smelled good...but i'm not gonna lie....i SCREWED it up and couldn't eat more than a few bites! my guests were polite and ate much more...even though i begged them not to humor me. i couldn't even eat it...it was not going to hurt my feelings. the consensus was...there was too much lemon zest. i have never used lemon zest in a recipe before and did not use it sparingly in this particular recipe...so fault one perhaps? also i MUST add....there was a little confusion with ingredients and the whole "did you say tablespoon or teaspoon?" question arose after i mixed in 1 1/2 TABLESPOONS of crushed red pepper flakes. wrong wrong wrong. i tried to scoop out anything i could...to decrease the amount i had just dumped in....but it was too late...we were instore for some overspiced sauce.

meal saver: roasted red peppers and chicken. hah....that's what susie and katie kept saying...."well, the chicken and peppers are REALLY good."

will i try this sauce again? yes...someday. the blog i got the recipe from is simply amazing and she uses the sauce in a number of recipes...so it's got to be as good as they say....i just have to pay closer attention and use the "a little goes a long way" theory AND taste test throughout! lesson learned!