Summer squash 1 (easy) way for 3 (delicious) dishes!

Summer squash, garlic, onion, rosemary, and oregano

July is awash with summer squash, pretty much no matter where you live. Growing up in Vermont, I remember seeing baskets of green and yellow long necks lining country roads towards the end of summer with desperately scrawled “free” signs above them.  Neighbors would reel you in with offers of dinner, then insist that you take some squash with you when you left. By August, everyone is sick of this delicious, abundant, and multi-faceted vegetable.

I religiously wait for them to come into season, and when they do I just can’t get enough—summer squash is light, remarkably versatile, cheap, and easy to work with. If you think you don’t like it but have never tried it fresh (i.e. straight from the farm, not from Peru via your local grocer) you have to give it another try. It grows as fast as weeds, and lends itself really well to almost any flavor you’d like to throw at it. You can think of it as the tofu of vegetables, except less bland and overrated. Summer squash is high in just about every nutrient you’ve ever heard of—including vitamin A, B1, B2, B3, B6, C, K, Omega 3 fatty acids, folate, manganese…the list goes on—it’s so good for you that you that it makes the cut for the World’s Healthiest foods list.

If this is your first foray into summer squash, I applaud your willingness to give it a try!  This week, we’re doing squash 1 easy way for 3+ dishes. Perfect for new cooks and busy people everywhere! “But wait”, you say “won’t I get sick of all this squash?” Oh my god will you ever!  And that’s good, because once it’s gone, you can’t have it again until next summer—at least not the good stuff. You can find foreign-grown squash in every store across the country all year round, but it only resembles its locally grown cousin in looks—certainly not in nutrients or in taste. I find out of season summer squash to be mealy, bitter, and dry. A good summer squash is fragile, bruises easily, and holds the perfect amount of moisture and elasticity in its flesh for cooking quickly on high heat—the same traits make them perfect for the grill as well!

Summer squash pasta Parmesan

Of the 3 simple dishes I’m posting today, Jeremy’s pick for dinner was summer squash pasta Parmesan.  This week I’ll also serve squash fajitas with garlic mayo and cotija cheese, and polenta with sauteed squash (and any other veggies I have lying around, no doubt.)   Though I’m not profiling them tonight, this same preparation of squash is perfect for a tamale filling, and is an excellent in savory puff pastries.

Carolina Cole Slaw

Carolina Coleslaw on a Bison Fajita

I’ve spent some time in the south, and you can’t live there for more than a month without falling head over heals for the local food.  My residency in Asheville, NC was what sealed the deal for me.  Carolina BBQ is tangy and succulent, and is enough to make even the most stalwart Mid-West BBQ fan sit up and take note.  For me, Carolina coleslaw was a culinary revelation.  There’s nothing like it, and there’s really nothing better.  Light, fresh, and perfectly piquant, it just screams summer.

Shoulder Cuts, and the Art of Tenderizing with Marinades

Red wine marinade with a Lindner Farms Bison Chuck steak

I woke up late last Sunday, and didn’t make it up to the Hollywood farmer’s market until about an hour before it closed.  It’s usually pretty slim pickings for red meat when you don’t get there early, so I figured I’d let whatever they had dictate what I made for dinner.  All that remained for many vendors were the tough braising meats. Stews are great, but not when it’s 80-90 degrees during the day.  Lucky for me, I was able to nab a beautiful grass-fed

Pancakes

It totally tastes as good as it looks...possibly better.

There’s nothing better than breakfast on the weekend.  Something about waking up late and having a leisurely cup of morning joe always puts me in the mood for a good meal.  I’m a big fan of looking at finished food, and there are few things more satisfying than the visage of pancakes, bacon, and eggs

Green Bean Casserole with Caramelized Onions

Green Bean Casserole is the kind of dish you see most often around the holidays.  Sadly, a lot of people associate the name with pitiful, mushy green beans in a gravy of canned mushroom soup with some sort of chemically-founded fried onion thing on top.  Sound like something you’ve seen before?  Well that’s not what we’re making here today

Conventional vs. Organic and another argument for buying local

I came across the above cartoon this morning, and I have to admit that it kind of pissed me off.  I can’t argue with the value that makes this cartoon funny; eating organic is an activity that some people can’t afford.  There are people out there trying to feed their entire family with $100 a week, and if you’re one of those people, organic might be out of reach.  But is that really you?  Most people who say they can’t afford organic actually can, but choose not to prioritize it. While it’s true that some people simply don’t know the risks involved with buying conventional, I think plenty more do know, but choose to turn a blind eye anyway