Squash for Days
Our very favorite meals with summer’s first bumper crop
Issue 30: From Dana
As a gardener, I have a love-hate relationship with summer squash. On the one hand, it’s one of my first abundant crops that’s not a leafy green, and I cherish it for that reason. Each June, I look forward to making a big gratin with that inaugural harvest of yellow squash and zucchini and fistfuls of basil, parsley and dill. Nothing says summer is finally here like the taste of that meal.
And it’s not just the squash I covet: the beautiful yellow blossoms that open wide in the morning, and snap shut with the day's heat, are such a treat to eat. I snip them at their base, stuff them with ricotta and herbs, then batter and fry them. I put them on pizzas, chiffonade them into pastas, slice and sprinkle them on salads, fold them into cheese quesadillas.
But in a few weeks, you (and every other gardener in your neighborhood) will be swimming in so much squash, you won’t be able to give them away. Last year, I went door to door with bags full of squash, but everyone politely declined. “Come back when your tomatoes are ready!”
