If you get a CSA this time of year—and if you’re in a northern climate—you’re likely awash in squash. Beyond roasting and mashing (maybe with a little butter and maple or brown sugar or honey), beyond soup, and beyond Yotam Ottolenghi’s squash with red onions and tehina, what can you do to keep up with…
Tag: squashapalooza
Squash Blossom Specials
Yesterday, for the first time in years, our sharebox included a carton of squash blossoms—a dozen or so beauties, each about four inches long. I knew they wouldn’t last long, even in the fridge, so I wanted to use them right away. There you go. A double-dip, blossom-binge day: Squash Poppers stuffed with goat cheese to…
Swap-Box Hero: Roasted Pumpkin Butter
Five pounds? According to John Oliver—in an epic rant against all things pumpkin-flavored—that’s how much pumpkin the average American eats each year. Maybe so. Nevertheless, there were three lovely little Kikuzas and a Queensland Blue in the swap box at the end of last week’s pick-up. So I grabbed a couple. Five pounds. I’m doing my…
Squishy Squash: Spreadable Summer
Decades before Farm-to-Table was a nationwide THING, Madison’s L’Etoile (est. 1976), was championing small, local growers, constructing seasonal menus, and pushing vegetable-centric cooking beyond lentil cakes and baba ghanoush. A summer-squash compendium on the kitchn last week reminded me of a meal I’d had at L’Etoile close to 30 years ago—a meal that kicked off with a warm loaf of crusty bread and…
Squashapalooza 2.0: Butternut Cupcakes
As promised on Thanksgiving, here’s the recipe for those killer butternut-squash cupcakes. Inspired by one of the most beautifully art-directed cookbooks I own, Jamie Oliver’s Jamie at Home, these moist, delicately scented cakelets are reminiscent of carrot cake—and from henceforth are my go-to, bring-along sweet for fall potlucks. Jamie dubs them muffins, but after I sampled a…
Wonder and Bounty
My Thanksgiving prep is nearly done. The crucifers are cut and ready to roast; the butternut squash cakes are frosted (and tucked into covered pans set in the garage, since there’s no room in the fridge); and the cranberry relish is already ready to relish. I’m grateful always, but today especially, for those who grow…
Squashapalooza 2.0: Squash and Beet Risotto
Eight. Again. Thanks to the swap box, a few forfeited shares, and my own carryovers from the past couple weeks, I now have eight squash clogging my kitchen counter. It’s Squashapalooza 2.0: Winter Edition. But at least these cool-weather varieties don’t demand immediate consumption (or preservation) like my week-long zucchini fest this past July….
Squashapalooza Day VI: Zucchini-corn fritters
Squash remaining: 2. Days remaining: 2. That’s right, I took a day off. Squash-free Friday. It may just catch on. Back at it Saturday night, though, when we found a half-hour gap in the rain to grill out some burgers for dinner. Must. Have. Zucchini. The grill was the obvious choice, but I’ve made or…
Squashapalooza Day II: Pizza with shaved zucchini
Squash remaining: 7. Days remaining: 6. Special monkey wrench: No running water in the kitchen. So no real cooking until the sink gets fixed. Genius solution: Order a Margherita pie from the wood-fired place down the street. Wash zucchini in bathroom sink. Pick up pie. Using a vegetable peeler, shave curls of zucchini onto hot…
A zucchini a day . . .
. . . still would not deplete my backlog before my next CSA delivery. That’s right. As I type, there are EIGHT summer squash (six zucchini and two yellow squash) in my fridge. Last week’s sharebox included four of each, and this week’s held four more. My goal: to eat them up or put them…
Boxing Day 