butternut spaghet sauce

We have so much freaking butternut squash that we're trying new and creative ways to use it all. We so far have eaten squash: steamed, added it to soup, butternut squash risotto and made speghet sauce. Christie doesn't particularly like baked squash due to texture issues. So the most common way to eat squash we have not yet partaken. We also still need to make bread as that's always an easy delicious way to use a globe.

We got adventurous last weekend and went to Costco with the intention of finding stuff to eat - and eat samples. While inspecting items we walked by a sauce entitled "butternut squash" pasta sauce. In normal circumstances we would have immediately purchased this item, however considering we had a kitchen counter filled with squash we decided to make some our selves!

So I peeled, seeded and cubed a squash that looked particularly experimental.



And prepared the rest of the ingredients: onion sliced, garlic chopped, fresh basil (from our garden), EVOO, home-made chicken stock, wine, and something entirely new:
(Editor's Note: EVOO stands for extra virgin olive oil...yeah, I didn't know either. -Christie)


Dried Mexican Oregano! - from our garden. Yum. Once everything was prepared my wife decided she needed to use the treadmill at that moment and informed me, while cooking dinner that it was my job to watch Sadie. So Sadie, being my progeny, immediately fussed inconsolably that she needed attention and required holding. My wife pumping away on the treadmill instructed me to take care of the pile of scream.
( Editor's Note: If I want to ever see a glimpse of that pre-pregnancy ever again, the treadmill and I need to become good friends, I don't think Brian disagrees. -Christie)

So...

we got to work. Sadie and I heated the oil. Added the onions until they browned, added the garlic until it was smelly, de-glazed the pan (and me).



Sadie inspected everything making sure nothing was overcooked. Let me tell you, oil splatters hurt me, and I was terrified for her. Her, like a nice little Sous, just took any abuse the angry oil could give her but she persevered. I am serious though, all of this was done with her in one arm - not crying.
(Editor's Note: I wish I had taken a picture of this, but I was pounding that treadmill pavement! -Christie)


At this point we added the cubed squash, chicken broth, and some fresh basil. Covered it and simmered until Christie finished her work out. On the other burners we had some brocs steaming and some whole wheat organic noodles boiling away.



Some dried oregano was added and I then added it to a blender and whirred it into sauce. It was thick and difficult to blend so I did add some pasta water in order to help it.

Finally we added the sauce to the noodles


and ate.

Our review: it was really just a big fat okay. It wasn't overly flavorful with the noodles. The sauce by itself was pretty good but apparently the noodles just aren't a great compliment to the sauce. We tried it again with another type of noodle tonight and it was still just really average. Overall it was a fun event and a very creative way to use the squash, but perhaps I should have added more salt (I rarely add salt as we get enough during the day) or had lower expectations. All in all, the highlight was sauteing items with a non-screaming baby.

I'm an awesome dad!