A few years ago, my momma said she wished she could find some green tinted patty pan squash so she could make Mrs. Turner's Squash Skillet. Mrs. Turner is an older lady in town who was originally from somewhere else. She had some different ways of doing things than many of the people who were born and raised here. One of those different ways was planting patty pan squash when everyone else here only planted yellow squash. Mrs. Turner once shared her squash and recipe with my mother. I, of course, found seeds and planted them. When the squash was ready, I shared it with Mrs. Turner and momma and she shared the recipe with me. Here is that recipe.
Mrs. Turner's Squash Skillet
½ cup Onion -- chopped
½ cup Pepper, Bell -- chopped
2 cup Squash, Patty Pan -- cubed
2 med Tomatoes -- quartered or smaller
2 tbsp Butter
1 tbsp Sugar
¼ tsp Pepper, Black
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Flour, Plain
Saute onion and green pepper in butter. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and sugar. Add squash and tomatoes and cook only until tender.
You can tell that this is a truly Southern recipe because sugar is added to vegetables. Sugar is added to everything here, EXCEPT the cornbread. Cornbread, by the way, is the perfect accompaniment to this squash dish. Anyway, if you feel uncomfortable adding sugar to vegetables, don't do it or add less, which is what I do. The squash will still be good.
Here are some other things I know about summer squash. You may substitute any summer squash in any summer squash recipe. There will be subtle taste and consistency issues, but the recipe will not fail or taste terrible. With that in mind here is one of my favorite summer squash recipes. It is good with the patty pan squash. I tried it last year. I copied it from Bay Tables which is a Junior League cookbook of my mother's. See, I'm still not giving any of my recipes. My mother must have been right about me.
Basil Couscous with Summer Squash
2 cups chicken broth
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 cup couscous
1 cup zucchini -- 1/4" dice
1 cup squash, yellow -- 1/4" dice
1 cup basil -- slivered
1/4 cup Almonds -- toasted and sliced
Bring the chicken stock and 1 tbsp of olive oil to a boil in a medium saucepan. Stir in salt and couscous. Remove from heat. Let stand covered for 5 minutes. Saute the zucchini and yellow squash in the remaining oil. Add vegetables, almonds, and basil to couscous and mix well. Serve immediately.
Or carve out centers of zucchini or squash and steam shells. Fill with couscous. Sprinkle with toasted sliced almonds.
These should hold you for now.
13 comments:
Thank you. I think I have just enough to get two cups out of them. : )
We would have to be pretty lucky to find patty pan in this area, but any recipe where zucchini can be substituted is always a godsend. I think because zucchini makes every backyard gardener feel successful, people plant way too much of it.
Thank you, we don't have squash here yet, but I'll be using these recipes
when we do.
Your beans look gorgeous too!
b
Thank you, thank you, thank you. My husband just came in with "a funny yellow squash" he grew (patty pan) and said there are about 20 more on the plant. I didn't know what to do with them. You did. Hooray!
This was an outstanding recipe. My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks for posting it on your blog. I mentioned it on my blog post this evening.
Not to ask a stupid question, but how do you prepare the pattypans for cooking? Do you take the skin off?
Thanks! :)
Don't peel, but do take the core out. Then dice the squash.
This is a really stupid question, but how do you know what the core of the pattypan squash is? I just cut one open (I've never worked with this kind of squash before), and the seed-y inside is huge. If this whole thing is the core, then there will be nothing left to eat! HELP! thanks...
What I am calling the core in not the seedy part, but the hard part around the stem and blossom end. Sometimes, if the squash is old and large you can see a color difference, but usually it is just a small piece that is barely distinguishable from the rest of the squash.
You definitely eat the seeds, unless they are huge, old and bitter.
I realise this blog posting is 2 years old but I'm in England and have just grown pattypan squash for the first time so have been looking for recipes (it's not grown at all over here). Yours sound yummy - thanks!!
received some patty pan in my weekly CSA, and had trouble finding a recipe to use them. sliced 2 M squash, 1 L onion, and 2 M heirloom tomatoes (also from our share), followed the recipe for the most part: doubled everything except the salt, omitted the sugar, and cooked low and slow. cannot tell you how good this was -- and SO simple :)
It's August 2012 and Mrs. Turner's recipe is still delicious!
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