Butternut Marinara Sauce

I have a good friend that can wander through her pantry and throw together a meal…without a recipe. This astounds me. I have some sort of mental block, coupled with an extreme reliance upon my beloved cookbooks. This friend has emboldened me, however, because it is apparent to me that her family still loves her, sans recipes.

Earlier this week, I needed the courage. It was one of those nights where everything went wrong with my recipe {actually, it has been one of those weeks, but that is another story}. I didn’t have some ingredients I thought I had, and I what I did have was an abundance of homegrown tomatoes needing to be used up. I decided to maximize my tomato usage by creating a sauce, but then I needed to thicken it, and then there were a couple other veggies sitting around, and the next thing I knew I had Butternut Marinara Sauce.

Butternut, because I took half of the butternut squash I baked for the baby and threw it in as a last-minute thickener. Lucky for me, that turned out okay. Only one child hated me for it, which is pretty good odds when you think about it.

I served this over pasta. I spent a significant amount of time wondering how it would taste over rice, and I think we’ll try that next time, as I prefer {presoaked} rice to pasta, nutritionally speaking.

I quickly wrote down what I did since most people liked it:

Butternut Marinara Sauce
Ingredients
3-4 quarts tomatoes, diced
1 zucchini, diced
2-3 Tb garlic, minced
1/4-1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. thyme
1-2 tsp. sea salt
pepper to taste
1/2 baked butternut squash, slightly mashed

Directions
1. Dump all ingredients in a soup kettle. {Add squash later on if you need to.}
2. Simmer for all eternity, minimum one hour. Keep kettle at least mostly uncovered if you want the sauce to thicken up {which you do}.

Bon apetite!