Product: Dave’s Gourmet Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce – $6.99+
Who says pasta sauces have to be tomato based? I love a little variety in my meals and with the flavors that cross my palate and love shaking up a ordinary dish with something extraordinary.
While out grocery shopping one day, I spotted a line of pasta sauces by Dave’s Gourmet. And one in particular caught my eye – Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce. I love the flavor of butternut squash. It is, quite possibly, my favorite in the squash line. So, this intrigued me enough to purchase it. And after it sat in my pantry for a couple weeks, I decided it would be the best sauce to use in a gluten-free lasagna. What kind of lasagna. Cheese. Five cheese at that.
First of all, the bright orange color of this sauce is fantastic. When I opened up the jar, I could smell the sweet aroma of the variety of vegetables incorporated into this sauce. While butternut squash is the star of this particular sauce, onion, garlic, and roasted red peppers also contribute to the flavor. When something smells that great upon just popping the lid, I could only imagine how amazing it would be in my pasta dish.
So, it started off my dish with a small layer of sauce, then noodles, cheese, sauce, noodles, cheese, sauce noodles, sauce and more cheese. Because, this is lasagna. You layer on the goodness.
I baked it accordingly and the aroma of it was amazing. I was ready to eat long before it was even done cooking. The hint of sweetness was evident even as it cooked away in the oven. And when my timer went off telling me that my lasagna was ready, I didn’t want to wait to let it sit to cool a moment. I wanted to dig right in.
So, I did.
Dave’s Gourmet hit the pasta sauce right out of the proverbial ballpark with the Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce. It’s sweet and carries a delicate flavor that really, really paired well with the variety of cheeses that I opted to use. Fantastic. I later found out that this sauce actually won Best Pasta Sauce at the 2009 Fancy Food Show in New York. Go figure. I can tell you why. It’s like no other pasta sauce you have ever had before. And once you get a taste of it, you’ll want to try it out on other dishes. I was actually sad I used the entire jar in my lasagna, because it was SO amazing and so full of flavor that I just wanted to see how it would go on polenta, or as a spaghetti sauce, etc. You get my drift.
So, I guess another purchase of this flavor will be in the very near future. Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce…who would have guessed it would be so good?
And now that I know, I can’t wait to see what the other flavors offered by Dave’s Gourmet taste like. It’s pricey…but damn…it’s worth the cost.
For now…this is my favorite pasta sauce…ever.
The Celiathlete 