Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Tutorial Tuesday: Summer Squash

Summer Squash is darn near becoming one of my all time favorite vegetables!

I don't remember eating Summer Squash growing up, although we did eat a lot of other varieties of squash! My love affair with this simple to prepare and yummy to consume little, yellow vegetable began after my husband Dave and I were married!

I learned to make Summer Squash from my mother-in-law (thanks Mom!), who learned to make it from her mother-in-law (thanks Grandma!)! The recipe is quick, simple, forgiving, healthy, delicious--- and super inexpensive!

Ingredients: Summer Squash (at least a pound), butter, water and salt.

Begin with clean squash, and then begin slicing each vegetable into quarter inch thick slices.

Here, I've sliced about three pounds! I LOVE that Summer Squash sells for about $1/pound, which makes this an easily affordable side dish!

Add about 1/3 cup - 1/2 cup of water per pound of sliced squash.

Then, according to the poundage of your squash, add a few pats of butter. I added a little less than a quarter of a stick of butter for these three pounds. The butter taste should not be overwhelming, its more of just a hint!

Over low-medium heat, allow the squash slices to heat thoroughly and become translucent! In our family, I get the squash prepped and on the stove, and then my husband will go outside and start grilling dinner. This recipe for Summer Squash is kind of a 'start, walk away, forget about... remember and then enjoy' kind of side dish! The squash will be perfectly tender when dinner is done grilling!

Usually, I will add a dash of salt to the Summer Squash after it is done cooking! Mmm! I can't wait for my squash plants to start producing!

Do YOU eat Summer Squash? Does this recipe sound tempting to YOU?

8 comments:

Ellen

We like summer squash. I remember whooing my husband with a summer squash dish. You sliced it thin & sauteed it with onions until soft (olive oil in pan). Then transfer to heat proof dish, add in diced tomatoes, s&p, and top with grated gruyere cheese & drizzle with a tad more olive oil. Then broil just 'til cheese is browned a bit. Watch it carefully! (Now I find that I like cooking the squash and onions over higher heat so that they brown and carmelize just a bit first)

Julie

I don't think I've ever tried summer squash that way, but just about anything with butter tastes good. Wonder if it would work with zucchini.
I definitely want to try Ellen's recipe above.

Anonymous

My favorite way to cook it is sliced with a little garlic powder, sea salt, black pepper and a slice of butter...wrap it in foil and throw it on the grill for a few minutes...cooks quickly. So yummy!

Carrie

I love summer squash. The rest of my family, not so much. I cook it a few different ways depending on the rest of the meal.
1. Marinated in italian dressing and grilled or sauteed
2. Shredded, sauteed in a little olive oil or butter with salt and pepper (my fav way!)
3. Sliced in half the long way and grilled with a little cracked pepper and sea salt.

I like your recipe and think I will try it next week.

Anonymous

Yes, I make it just like you do as well as a couple of different versions. I usually add onion. I sometimes mix in zucchini for a nice color combo. My mom used to add onion, tomato sauce/tomato, potato chunks and oregano for a yummy Italian veggie stew.

Laura Webber

Oh my goodness! I'm in LOVE with all of these recipes!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Niki

I usually tend to just grill it along with the remainder of dinner on the grill - and I can't get enough of it either. I'm going to try your recipe and some of the others, I love squash so much-I'm getting excited for them to be in season!!

Anonymous

I make summer squash like this too. We add zucchini, cook it in heated olive oil in a pan. Then I add pepper, Mrs. Dash and Parmesan cheese. I can't wait for my garden to start producing for me!