Eating October in December

Part 1

The Great Patty Pan Squash Experiment

I made squash soup last week. I used summer squash that I had grown in my garden this summer. They had been sitting on my counter since the middle of October. It's now December...

Many years ago I grew a squash that was described in the seed catalog as a summer squash if picked early, but a winter squash if left to harden on the vine. The winter version didn't look much different from its summer cousin, but it did have a tougher skin and stored well into the winter. When I returned from a two week vacation in the middle of October this year, I found a half dozen overgrown patty pan squash hiding under the fading leaves of a nearby zucchini plant. At that point they looked like a small invasion of flying saucers, large, with tough skins and, I was sure, large seeds inside as well. I picked them, put them on my kitchen counter, and ignored them for two months. I wondered if they would behave like the summer/winter squash I had grown years ago.

A few days before Christmas, in an effort to clear the counter before the holiday, I decided the time had come to test the long term viability of the patty pan squash. (I was also fresh out of dinner ideas that night...) I peeled the squash. (The skin was easier to peel than a butternut squash.) I seeded them (much like a pumpkin). The remaining flesh was white and firm. I steamed the flesh and let it cool. I then proceeded to make a generic creamed soup recipe using the steamed squash. The result was quite delicious, like an autumn squash soup, though the soup was, well, patty pan white...

I've included my recipe below. With the success of the patty pan soup, now maybe I'll be brave enough to do something with that 20 inch monster zucchini that's still sitting on the counter...

Cream of Squash Soup

¼ cup finely chopped onion

¼ cup butter

3 tablespoons flour

¼ teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 ½ cups chicken broth

1 ½ cups milk (up to a ½ cup may be half and half)

2 – 3 cups (approximately) of pureed summer squash

Nutmeg

Ginger

Sauté onion in butter until tender. Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Cook one minute, stirring constantly until smooth and bubbly. Gradually stir in chicken broth and half the milk; cook until slightly thickened, stirring constantly. Do not boil. Puree squash with half the milk in a food processor. Add squash mixture to thickened broth and heat through. Add ginger and a bit of nutmeg to taste.

Tomorrow

Eating October in December

Part 2

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes...

Americans have more food to eat than any other people and

more diets to keep them from eating it. - Yogi Berra