Hidden Veggie Marinara (Zucchini You Can't Taste)

Hidden Veggie Marinara is a pot of tomato sauce with two medium zucchini blended into it, written for the cook whose family spots every green fleck on a plate. The zucchini cooks down with the onion, goes into the blender until completely smooth, and then the sauce simmers a second time so the water it released boils off. What is left reads as tomato sauce and nothing else. The batch makes 6 cups and serves 8, which covers several pasta nights. It starts with a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes, so it works in any month with supermarket zucchini, and it freezes well for the weeks when dinner needs to be a one-step job.

Why this works

• Blending before the final simmer breaks the zucchini into particles small enough to read as sauce.
• The last simmer boils off the water the zucchini released, so the sauce clings to pasta instead of pooling in the bowl.
• Cooking the tomato paste until it turns brick red and sticks to the pot builds a deeper flavor than stirring it straight into the tomatoes.
• The zucchini and onion cook first, in the pot, until the pan looks wet. That is the vegetable giving up its water early instead of later.

What to know about the ingredients

Use two medium zucchini, about 400 g chopped. Supermarket zucchini is fine here because the vegetable ends up as a smooth base, so a few blemishes on the skin do not matter. Chop it roughly, since the blender does the real work.

Canned crushed tomatoes carry the sauce. Buy the 28 oz size so you do not have to guess at a partial can. Tomato paste adds depth, and a little sugar rounds off any sharp edge from the can, so taste before you reach for more of either.

Fresh basil goes in at the very end, off the heat, so it keeps its color. Dried oregano goes in with the tomatoes. If you only have dried basil, add it with the oregano and skip the finishing step. Salt matters more than it seems: the recipe says to adjust it in 1 g (1/4 teaspoon) steps, which keeps you from over-correcting a pot this large.

Tips for getting it right

1. Wait for the oil to slide easily across the pot, about 1 minute, before adding the onion and zucchini. A hot pot starts the water release at once.
2. Cook the onion and zucchini 8 to 10 minutes, stirring twice. You want the onion translucent and the pan looking wet. If it still looks dry, give it a few more minutes.
3. Let the tomato paste darken to brick red and stick to the bottom of the pot, about 2 minutes. That stuck layer is flavor, and the crushed tomatoes will loosen it.
4. Simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, so steam can leave the pot.
5. Never fill a countertop blender more than halfway with hot sauce. Hold the lid down with a towel.
6. Judge thickness by the spoon trail, not by the clock. A trail that closes slowly means the sauce is ready.

How to store, freeze and make ahead

The sauce keeps 5 days in the fridge and 4 months in the freezer. Freeze it flat in 480 g (2 cup) bags, which is one pasta night each. Flat bags stack neatly and thaw quickly. Make a full batch on a weekend and you have the base for several dinners, with no zucchini visible in any of them.

What to serve with it

Spoon it over any pasta, spread it on pizza, or use it as the dip for the Baked Zucchini Fries. It also works as the sauce under a baked pasta, or as a base for a pot of meatballs. For another dish that hides the vegetable inside a family favorite, try the Sneaky Mac and Cheese.

Variations

• Stir in a pinch of red pepper flakes for a sauce with some heat for the adults at the table.
• Add a splash of cream to the finished sauce for a softer, pinker version.
• Cook some ground meat in the pot first and build the sauce on top of it for a meat sauce.
• Use it as the sauce on a pan of baked pasta, or as the base for a quick pizza on flatbread.

When you have a few zucchini left and want more ways to use them across the seasons, the Zucchini Recipes and Small-Batch Preserving guide has them all. For a roasted take on the same vegetable, see the Sheet Pan Ratatouille.