Squash recipes for summer

 

Zucchini casserole, with a bite  out of it already

If you’ve ever had a vegetable garden, you know how prolific summer squash and zucchini vines can be. There’s an old joke about gardeners who wait til the dead of night to leave zucchini on friends’ doorsteps, because everyone has way too much of it come July. It’s time to take advantage of this abundance, whether it comes from your own garden, a farmers’ market, or the grocery store.

Squash is also something not everyone will eat. My local family will not, so when they went out of town recently, I took the opportunity to fix myself a squash casserole. I spent years trying to duplicate the way it was done at The Black-Eyed Pea restaurants and never quite got it right. Finally, I decided I should stop winging it and use a recipe. Here’s what I did:

Summer squash casserole

1 lb. yellow crookneck squash (about four small squash)

¼ c. water

¼ c. chopped sweet onion

½ tsp salt

1 egg. Beaten

¼ c. dry bread crumbs

2 Tbsp. melted butter

Pepper to taste

½ c. grated cheddar (more if you want)

Combine first four ingredients in a saucepan; bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for about 15 minutes. Let it cool a bit before adding egg mixture below.

Separately combine remaining ingredients. Stir into squash mixture and pour into one-quart casserole dish. Cover with cheddar cheese—I like a good amount of cheese and probably used a cup, grated. Bake 30 minutes at 300^o.

This recipe for zucchini is so much like the one above they could almost be interchangeable.

Zucchini side dish

3 c. sliced zucchini

¼ c. sour cream

1 Tbsp. butter

1 Tbsp. grated Parmesan or Pecorino

           (You could use cheddar if you prefer)

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. paprika

1 beaten egg yolk

1 Tbsp. finely diced green onion

Topping:

2 Tbsp. breadcrumbs

3 Tbsp. Parmesan (or whatever you used above)

½ Tbsp. butter

Crisp vegetables are the trend these days, have been for several years, and if you like your squash that way, use it crisp; to my mind, some vegetables ought to be mushy (green beans when eaten with fried chicken, for instance). Zucchini in a casserole ought to be on the mushy side, so I steamed this—doesn’t take long.

Separately melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in cheese, salt, and paprika. Heat until cheese melts. Remove pan from heat and let it cool a bit before stirring in the egg yolk and chives. Gently stir in the zucchini and put it all in a buttered casserole dish.

Mix crumbs and cheese for topping and spread evenly on top of squash mixture. Dot with butter. Bake at 375^o about 30 minutes, until topping is browned.

Happy summer, everyone!