Pasta with Kale and Beet Greens Pesto, Summer Squash, Sausage & Swiss Chard

The season of summer CSAs has begun! This recipe’s title might sound slightly ridiculous, but then if you’ve just begun a summer CSA too, you will probably be able to relate. You’ve got greens coming out of your ears, and you need to find a use for them, quick.

Shaved Summer Squash and Nectarine Salad

It doesn’t take more than a couple fresh ingredients at their prime to make an appetizer that you might spend upwards of $10 for in a restaurant. But in a restaurant, a dish like this–even with so simple a philosophy that I can agree with–nags me a little. It’s just too precious. Too plated. And often, too skimpy.

Charred Green Bean and Summer Squash Salad with Fresh Mozzarella and Basil

I needed a green detox after cookout fever this holiday weekend. I found myself stationed at the grill this 4th of July, where one after another, people lined up to give me things to char: chicken wings, sausages, lamb chops, chicken breasts, hamburgers, hot dogs, kabobs. Thank goodness it was overcast and not very hot that day. I also managed to grill some zucchini and eggplant, but didn’t get a chance to snag any while tending the flames. The chops were … Read More

Kung Pao Chicken and Butternut Squash

It’s the end of October, and squashes, gourds, and pumpkins are everywhere — on people’s doorsteps, dining tables, and planted like portly pebbles on city park displays. But it doesn’t take witchcraft to turn winter squash into a hearty meal. It doesn’t even take a long time to cook! Here, some butternut squash slices are steamed first, then quickly stir-fried. And for a little scare, in keeping with the season, I’ve given them a Sichuan kung pao lick of spice.

Zucchini and Onion Gratin with Herbed Breadcrumbs

It might seem less appropriate to cook zucchini when they’re as bright and bouncy as in the summer. And I don’t mean just lightly sear, but really cook — at a slow and low roast until meltingly tender — fresh, in-season zucchini. It might seem inappropriate to turn on the oven at all. But this aberration to my summer cooking routine has yielded a dramatically sweet, savory, and altogether satisfying way to enjoy one of my all-time favorite foods. It’s kind of like … Read More

Sweet and Numbing-Hot Spaghetti Squash Salad

There’s nothing like a good game of culinary caper. Here, the winter squash known for its strand-like striations once cooked has stolen the role of thin glass noodles in a Sichuan-style spicy dressing. The squash is orange, rather than glisteningly clear, but since it’s drenched in chili-laced oil and fermented bean paste, you might still mistake it for the former ingredient if you weren’t paying much attention. And then — yuk yuk yuk — bite into the salad, to find … Read More

Butternut Squash & Apple Soup

I decorate my home with food, not flowers — a bowl of peaches or tomatoes to grab from in the summer, jaunty new herbs like mint in the spring, and a fetching squash of some type to plunk on the coffee table in fall and winter. A great pile of apples often paints the scene, from mid-September to about May. If you’re like me, you’ve probably found yourself equipped with a good squash and clutch of apples from a recent … Read More

Kuri Squash “Steaks” and Eggs

Winter squashes can seem intimidating to cook. They have thick, hardened skins often scuffed with dirt, and their dense flesh can make for quite a dangerous job of cutting it if you’re not careful with a big knife. Their seed pockets are stringy and stick to your fingers. They take a long time to soften — or do they? Not when using these red kuri squashes, in thin slices for instance.

Savory Summer Squash Tart with Almond Crust

I can never really get bored with cooking zucchini and other summer squash when they’re fresh, firm and in season. I generally grab a couple bright, cheerful varieties any given time I’m at the farmers’ market all summer, but this often leaves me with a surplus of squashes that aren’t so terribly awesome-looking later in the week. But a few age spots on the outsides doesn’t mean they’re any more austere; I went ahead and baked these ones, in a … Read More

Thai Basil Summer Squash

posted in: Recipes, Sides & Salads | 8

I got the most interesting heirloom summer squashes the other day at the Greenmarket. Warted, striped, crook-necked, and very heavy for their size and dense in flesh, I didn’t think it too appropriate to make something just “everyday” with them. No, these specimens deserved the spotlight for a seasonal side dish of their own.