Yesterday was fast Sunday. In my currently 8-month pregnant state, I didn't fast. Justin did and I let him pick what was for dinner. "Pasta," he said. Dang, I thought. I really needed to use up that behemoth banana squash in the cupboard. Wait, didn't I get an email from Blendtec about some squash pasta sauce or something? We researched on their site and found what I was thinking of - a pumpkin pasta sauce that looked easy enough to substitute for banana squash (click HERE for the original recipe). I got to work, and got creative using generous quantities of my fresh herbs (why are these still alive outside in the freezing cold? I don't know, I'm glad they are and I keep using them). It was so good.
Pumpkin Pasta Sauce
(tripled from the original recipe to generously cover 1lb bowtie pasta)
- 1 TB coconut oil
- 3/4 large onion, chopped
- 6 roma tomatoes [I only had 3, so I did 3 + 1 can tomato sauce]
- 6 cloves garlic
- 3/4 tsp black pepper
- 2 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp fresh sage [I substituted 1TB fresh chopped marjoram + 1 tsp fresh chopped rosemary]
- 1 1/2 tsp fresh basil [I substituted 3/4 tsp dried basil, because I have no live basil]
- 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano [I substituted 2 TB fresh chopped oregano]
- 1 1/2 cups milk [I substituted for 3/4 cup heavy cream]
- 3 cups pumpkin puree [I substituted for 3 cups fresh banana squash puree]
[Prepare squash puree, if needed] Heat oil and sauté onion, tomatoes, garlic, black pepper, salt, sage, basil and oregano in large sauce pan until onion becomes tender. Add milk and pumpkin and continue cooking until mixture is heated through [since I was using cream I added the squash and tomato sauce at this step and didn't add the cream until after pureeing].
Transfer all ingredients to blender jar and blend until chunky-smooth. Serve with your favorite pasta.
