The sundried tomatoes in this recipe are totally optional as far as I’m concerned. And with the pretty yellow tomatoes from this week’s box, I think I’d skip them. It’s a recipe adapted from one at Whole Foods. If you don’t have pesto, or don’t like it, just brush the squash slices with olive oil and then use the same breading. The orange juice in the sauce is a really great idea. I’m seeing more and more recipes pairing oranges and tomatoes. Not exactly in season together, I know, but the acids and the sweetness of each complement each other really nicely.
summer squash
Squash-Feta Pie
Not sure why, but these rainy days make me think of pie. This is adapted from a recipe from Whole Foods. About as easy as it’s possible for a pie to be. Add any herbs you have on hand – chives, basil, parsley …..
Blue Cheese-Stuffed Summer Squash
I’m a big fan of blue cheese, and came home from a South Carolina beach trip with a wedge of Clemson University’s blue cheese. Can’t wait to put it to use here. But substitute any cheese you like. This recipe came from Better Homes and Gardens magazine.
Grilled Squash with Lemon-Basil Vinaigrette
Don’t you love Cook’s Illustrated recipes? They do so much research to make sure their recipes will turn out well for you. This one is about 4 years old. Follow the directions for “charred-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside veggies with great smoky flavor.” There’s no reason the onion has to be red. Just use one from the box. Putting the onions on skewers is a great tip to make it easier to deal with them on the grill.
Squash Pickles
I’m sorry I don’t remember the provenance of this last recipe, but it’s a fairly traditional way to make pickled squash. I can eat it by the pint. The directions are for processing the pickles in a boiling water bath. If you want to skip that step, just pack the pickles into jars after they’ve been heated in the vinegar, and seal them up. Let them cool and then keep the pickles in your refrigerator. They should keep about 2 months without processing but they have to be refrigerated. The recipe also says to wait a month before eating, but I don’t generally have that much patience. They’re really fine right away.
Makes 4 pints
Squash with Feta, Walnuts and Dill
And finally, an idea for turning that squash into a salad.
Raw zucchini is wonderful when sliced very thin, carpaccio-thin. In this recipe it’s topped with feta, dill, and walnuts for a Greek spin, but it would be equally delicious with shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano, basil, and pine nuts. Don’t be tempted to save time and toss the zucchini with the other ingredients in a bowl—it will turn watery, and won’t be nearly as pretty.
This recipe comes from the food blog, Once Upon a Chef.
Serves 4
Baked Squash Sticks and Sweet Onion Dip
This recipe came from King Arthur Flour. If you still have an onion from earlier this season, you’re golden. If not, Vidalias will still be at the market for a few more weeks.
Sweet-and-Sour Veggie Pickles
If you have any leftover green beans from last week, they’d work fine in this recipe as well.
Adapted from a recipe that appeared in Southern Living
Makes about 8 cups
Minestrone with Field Peas and Almond Pistou
Adapted from a recipe published in the New York Times: September 28, 2010.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings.
Fusilli Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes and “Hidden” Squash
And all those gorgeous tomatoes! So here’s my favorite tomato sandwich. You might want to try this if you’re over your fixation with white bread and mayo. You’ll need a crusty loaf of bread like a ciabatta. Split the bread in half and layer on sliced tomatoes, olive oil, sliced fresh garlic, capers, anchovy (optional as always) and basil. Throw on a splash of red wine vinegar. Close up the loaf and let the ingredients sit for at least an hour. Eat it outside.
Your basil, like mine, probably looked pretty wilted. Do not throw it out! It’s still perfectly wonderful for a sandwich like the one above, or you can do what I did last week with mine – make ice cream. There’s a wonderful new book out, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home. She makes a vanilla ice cream base and then suggests adding a bunch of basil to the ice cream mixture as it cools. Strain out the ice cream before freezing. Amazing. Then, to make it even more wonderful, she suggests caramelizing some pine nuts in honey with just a bit of butter, salting the mixture, and then stirring it into the finished ice cream for storage. Salty-sweet-buttery nuts, basil ice cream. Fabulous. I saved a little money and used half pine nuts/half pumpkin seeds. Perfect.
Don’t want to make ice cream? Try the minestrone recipe below, with its bonus recipe for a basil pistou made with almonds and tomato. Or throw the basil in the freezer (yes, well wrapped please) and pull it out when you want to make a big pot of pasta fagioli this fall. Tie the basil into a bunch and then you can just fish it out of the finished soup. Or chop it up and throw it into your next batch of spaghetti sauce. Wilted, slightly browned, none of that will matter.
And if you need another idea for tomatoes and squash, how about this pasta?
Our box held a mix of tomatoes today. Use the smaller, meatier ones for this recipe, which means leaving the big juicier specimens for your favorite sandwich. Serves 4.