It's Summer and the Living is Squashy

Jun
27

I have yellow squash! Do you? We had our first squash of the season this weekend. I immediately thought, I want scalloped squash! I don’t know where I got that idea. I’ve never heard of scalloped squash. Go ahead, just trying searching the internet for scalloped squash. You get scallop squash, also known as patty pan squash. These are small saucer-shaped squashes. I wanted scalloped squash. (Ha, I did find one later, when researching again for this post, at Epicurious. I feel so fancy now!)

If you’re a new gardener and want a boost of gardening self-esteem, grow squash and zucchini. They’ll make you feel like a master gardener. No matter how many or few plants you put in the ground, the reward is usually abundant and even overwhelming. However, fresh squash and zucchini out of the garden is only available less than half the year, so no complaining here. I’m always looking for new and different recipes to try to keep it interesting during the season, though.

By the way, if you want less squash (or zucchini) from the plants you have, fry the blossoms! (That’ll teach ‘em!) I have a fried squash blossom recipe here. (Also includes a recipe for zucchini fritters.) Another favorite of mine is Summer Vegetable Pie, made with squash and/or zucchini.

Here is the current state of our garden:

Not bad at all! In fact, I think it’s looking pretty good! (Somebody get that dog outta there.)

No new creepy scarecrow yet. I’ve got Mr. Owl watching over things.

I hope he’s up to the job.

Back to scalloped squash….. What is “scalloped” anyway and why do I want to do that to my squash? A scalloped vegetable is classically the potato. Scalloped potatoes means a dish of thin-sliced potatoes, milk or cream, cheese, and bread crumbs. The origins of the recipe concept go back at least to early American settlers, and perhaps to their Irish or English ancestors. Scalloped potatoes and scalloped corn are common. Why not scalloped squash? We must think outside the scalloped box! How about scalloped peppers? Scalloped eggplant? Scalloped tomatoes? Scalloped anything! Just what can you think of that isn’t good combined with milk or cream, cheese, and bread crumbs?

Nothing, I tell you, nothing! We shall scallop the world!

Okay, calm down. Let’s just scallop some squash. (This recipe is based on my Scalloped Corn recipe.)

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How to make Scalloped Squash:

2 cups (or so) sliced yellow squash
1 cup chopped onions and/or peppers (hot or sweet)
2 tablespoons butter
1 egg
2/3 cup milk
1 cup bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup shredded cheese (Cheddar or whatever)

Depending on how big the squash is, after slicing, either cut in halves or quarters.

Cook the squash and onions (and/or peppers) in butter till tender.

Combine egg, milk, bread crumbs, and a dash of salt and pepper in a large bowl. For me, one cup of bread crumbs is one thick slice of Grandmother Bread, crumbled finely in my mini food processor.

Stir in the squash mixture and the shredded cheese. Pour into a 1.5 quart greased casserole dish. Top with a sprinkling of fresh chopped chives if you’ve got ‘em! My herb garden this weekend (the chives just got a haircut):

Bake at 350-degrees for about 30 minutes.

Also excellent for zucchini!

Now go forth and scallop.

See this recipe at Farm Bell Recipes for the handy printable: Scalloped Squash.

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18 Responses
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6-27
1:21
am

Your yummy-looking scalloped squash reminded me of my favorite savory (!) pumpkin recipe-Pumpkin Gratin, gonna go make some now! There’s so many goodies to explore with these babies!

bonita

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6-27
7:41
am

I’m always on the look out for good zucchini and summer squash recipes. The first year my husband and i grew our vegetable garden we planted six zucchini (we had no idea how prolific a plant it was!). Now we know better and we only planted one for us. It just started flowering, too! I’m looking forward to putting up some zucchini relish (my absolute favorite) and i love fried zucchini served with marinara sauce for a quick summer lunch. but the scalloped squash looks delicious. Thanks for the idea:)

mom2girls

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6-27
9:00
am

People at country churches always lock their car doors during squash season…if you don’t there will be a bag of squash waiting for you after services!

I love yellow squash deep fried…and there is a really good recipe for summer squash casserole with Stove Top stuffing.I am going to have to try the scalloped squash. Thanks for the recipe!

Miss Judy

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6-27
9:03
am

This is very similar to what is called “Squash Casserole” in so many of my cookbooks except most of the recipes call for sour cream instead of regular milk. I love squash casserole…….and sauteed squash and fried squash and grilled squash and…mmmmmmmm..

judyh

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6-27
10:30
am

Looks yummy, I have been harvesting squash the past two weeks have already “saved” some for winter. I have only breaded and fried so far… but this is on this weeks dinner plan. Sounds wonderful, anything with squash and cheese. Thanks so much look forward to scalloping this week. Donna

donnadreams

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6-27
10:42
am

I am so jealous your garden looks so great. Mine was late getting in from the rain and my plants aren’t growing fast. I am going to give the a shot of fertilizer on them today.
I planted patty pan last year and love to cut tops off and stuff with sausage, rice and some veggies. they were yummy. even made vegan ones for hubby with soy cheese and soy sausage he love it too.

Linda Goble

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6-27
12:10
pm

I would love it if someone would give me some squash! Something (no one knows what) takes my squash blossoms off at the base just after they bloom, no squash.

Anyone have any idea what might be doing this? I just bought a wire cake protector that I’m going to put over the smallest squash plant out there. This seems to happen at night, so my guess is that it’s something that flies into the blooms, and takes some pollen and while it does it somehow cuts the bloom from the stem.

Judi

MalagaCove

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6-27
12:35
pm

This is very strange because the first yellow squash we got (well the second… the first got grilled) went right in to a squash casserole (which is similar to the recipe you posted). I have never made a squash casserole. It’s a southern thing, and I’m not southern. However it was DELICIOUS and if I get more squash I will do it again!

pamplemousse

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6-27
12:37
pm

Oh, btw Judi… I’ve been having the same problem. There are two types of blossoms on a squash: male and female. Male flowers are just blossoms on a stick. Female flowers are blossoms on a sort of bulb-shaped thing which is the fruit. All my flowers have been males so I haven’t had and fruits in a while. I don’t know how to fix this… I think it’s just unfortunate. :(

pamplemousse

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6-27
2:38
pm

Judi and pamplemousse, squash blossums falling off are common at the beginning of the season. Male blossums outnumber female blossums, 3 or 4:1 ratio, and they bloom a week before the female blossums so maybe this is the issue.

Also, the blossums need pollination so anything you can do to encourage bees in your garden, or you may need to hand pollinate with a q-tip or small paint brush. Transfer pollen from the blooms on straight stems (male blooms) to blooms on bulbish stems (female blooms). The female bloom will close after pollination and won’t open again. The male might open the next day or 2, but eventually will fall off.

Love the scalloped squash recipe Suzanne, can’t wait to try it!

Liz Pike

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6-27
3:46
pm

Yum!! I have one of those owls too. I have to move it around the yard once in a while otherwise the birds figure out he’s not real.

oct4luv

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6-27
8:17
pm

We are ever so squashy here in the Garden State. This is another of those locations where you must lock your car to prevent zucchini the size of baseball bats from being on your seat when you return. I’m always amazed how much a zucchini can grow in 24 hours. You look at them one morning and think “one more day…” The next day they are HUGE.

This year we have the yellow patty-pan and zucchini too so we will soon be awash in squash. I’ll have to give the scallop a go. I make a Mexican casserole with bacon, green chilies and cheese…yum! It’s on the menu this week along with zucchini ‘boats’ with ground beef and spaghetti sauce. Oh, and the grilled ones which are to die for. I’m so glad it’s squash season!

JerseyMom

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6-27
8:44
pm

JerseyMom…please post those recipes!

yvonnem

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6-27
9:12
pm

Great pictures!

LisaAJB

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6-28
11:13
am

Where I come from this is called squash casserole. If you Google that, you’ll get thousands of results.

dm74

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6-28
11:30
am

Yes, I know it’s a casserole. Scalloped is a particular type of casserole.

Suzanne McMinn

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6-28
12:56
pm

I have had to do the hand-pollination thing with a q-tip for my pumpkins. It works just fine!

Jim (JiminColorado) has offered to get me a yellow and black striped shirt and deeleyboppers for my head so I can look like a bumblebee when I do that. He thinks he is very funny! (Oh, alright — he IS very funny)

http://howweregonnadoit.blogspot.com

Kathi

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6-29
8:24
pm

yvonnem, yes I will post ‘em. Right now I need to confirm what I can freeze the Mexican version….anybody out there know about that? I’m thinking I can because everything is cooked already- well except for the final baking to warm up and make the cheese on top golden. When I freeze blanched squash (and I do) it’s always watery when it’s thawed and I have to do a major drain job before I can do anything else. I’d think that if I froze the cooked and mashed version that wouldn’t be an issue but need verification because DH just brought in another dozen of the scalloped ones And that’s why folks around here lock their cars!

JerseyMom

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