Squash, squash, and more squash

Yeah, the season is upon us again, and it gets boring unless you vary the recipes a bit, no? For starters, of course you can steam it, fry it, boil it, broil it, grill it, bake it (sound like Forrest Gump’s friend Bubba yet?), and so on. Here are a few of our all-time favorites, just in case a few extra ideas might come in handy…

• Deep-fat fried. Cube the summer squash (zucchini, yellow squash, Mexican squash, etc.), coat with seasoned flour (you can use salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, chile powder, whatever your preferences), and deep-fat fry at 375 degrees till golden. Drain on paper towels and eat hot. Absolutely delicious.
• Sausage and rice stew. Fry one pound of breakfast sausage with a diced onion till sausage is cooked. Cube 2 or 3 medium zucchinis or yellow squashes and add to the mixture. Add 1 ½ C. rice (any kind, uncooked) and 4 C. water. Cover and cook over low heat till the rice is tender. Add more water if necessary. Season to taste with your choice of salt/pepper/garlic/chile.
• Fried squash and corn. Cube squash. Melt butter in a frying pan and fry squash till tender. Add either frozen corn or a can of corn, and fry until all is heated and tender. Delicious just like that, or for variety, add any of the following to the squash and corn mixture for slightly different flavors: onions, potatoes, crumbled bacon, a small bit of cooked sausage or ground beef, or green chile. Or add a bit of cheese at the last and heat just to melting.
• Squash pancakes. Grate the squash and make squash pancakes. Just like potato pancakes. Add an egg and a bit of flour and season to taste with salt/pepper/onion/garlic/chile powder or whatever you like. Fry in vegetable oil till brown, flip over and fry the other side. Drain and serve.
• Sausage and squash casserole. Grate 2 or 3 cups of summer squash, and fry with one pound of breakfast sausage till the sausage is cooked. Add two cans of cream-of-anything soup (or 4 cups of milk) and mix thoroughly. Grease or spray a medium to large casserole dish. Open a box of stove-top stuffing (any kind). Put 2/3 of the stuffing mix into the casserole dish. Add the meat and squash mixture. Add the last 1/3 of the stuffing mix to the top, and dot with butter. Cover and bake at 350 degrees just to heat through, about 10 minutes. Melt a bit of cheese on the top if you like.
• Zucchini bread or cake. Here’s a simple recipe that we use for zucchini OR pumpkin bread. It’s versatile and never fails.
• 1 to 2 C. shredded raw squash (or cooked pumpkin)
• 1 C. chopped nuts and/or ½ C. raisins or other dried fruit (optional)
• ½ C. vegetable oil
• ¾ C. brown sugar OR honey
• 2 eggs
• 2 t. vanilla
• ½ t. salt
• ½ t. baking soda
• ¼ t. baking powder
• 1 ½ C. flour
• “sweet” spices: your choice of about 1 T. total from any of the following: cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, cloves

Combine all ingredients, mix well, bake in greased loaf pan(s) at 350 degrees for about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Wait 5-10 minutes to remove from loaf pan. Great plain or buttered. Optional: If you like it iced, here’s a simple frosting: combine one stick (1/4 lb.) softened butter, one 8-oz pkg. cream cheese, and enough powdered (confectioner’s) sugar to make the desired frosting consistency (it takes a lot of sugar, by the way). Spread on cooled bread/cake.

• Frozen, blanched. Freeze it, either by cubing or slicing, then blanching and bagging. Freeze in quart bags for winter use the same as fresh. Or freeze some in snack or sandwich bags rather than the larger quart bags; this is great for adding to soups and stews all winter long.
• Frozen, raw. Grate it and freeze it raw in quart bags. Great for later use as pancakes, in zucchini bread, casseroles, etc.

Back to Recipes

Back to Ortiz Ranch home page