The uck is on the flesh and that's when you toss it, but cut it off and the bit just inside it is fine. Yes, will do that with the onion and the garlic and try a tad of tomato paste. By red pepper flakes guess you mean red capsicum flakes .. .https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/capsicum . We call them capsicums more.
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”