Recipe: Two-squash casserole uses mix of summer varieties
The yellow pattypan and green zucchini squashes are diced before steaming.
(Photos: Debbie Arrington)
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Creamy summer squash casserole is an old Kentucky favorite. Usually, it’s made with baby crooknecks; peeled, boiled and mashed.
This variation uses a mix of summer squash, still plentiful in October. Even (somewhat) over-sized squash will work. Once puréed, big and little squash all cook the same.
The combination of green zucchini and yellow pattypan makes for an attractive side dish, too. All green or all yellow is pretty (and tasty), too.
Two-squash casserole
Makes 6 servings
Summer squash season is coming to an end, but there's
still time to find (or harvest) them for the casserole.
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Ingredients:
2 pounds mixed summer squash (zucchini, pattypan, crookneck, etc.), chopped into 1-inch chunks
1 egg, beaten
¼ cup cream
1 tablespoon sugar
5 teaspoons cornstarch
½ cup (1 cube) butter, melted
½ cup onion, finely chopped
¼ cup Parmesan or Romano cheese, grated
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
Grease a 2-quart casserole dish. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Steam squash over simmering water until fork tender. In a food processor, purée squash until smooth.
In a mixing bowl, beat egg with cream. Mix together sugar and cornstarch; add to egg-cream mixture. Stir in melted butter and chopped onion. Fold in puréed squash. Season with salt and pepper.
Pour mixture into greased casserole dish. Sprinkle grated cheese over top.
Bake in a 350-degree oven for 40 minutes or until top is golden.
Serve warm.
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Make the most of the lower temperatures early in the week. We’ll be back in the 80s by Thursday.
* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.
* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.
* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.
* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)
* Plant dahlia tubers.
* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.
* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.
* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.
* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.
* Add mulch to the garden to maintain moisture. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch-to-1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.
* Remember to weed! Pull those nasties before they set seed.
* Water early in the day and keep seedlings evenly moist.
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