#159 Summer squash.

 

This morning we woke up early and took a long bike ride. I would love to tell you we did it because we’re the kind of people who like to start their day off with exercise, but really we did it because it was a reasonable temperature out before 8 am and we’d rather not have a heat stroke in the afternoon. We rode to the end of 6th Avenue, back through Gardiner Park and over to the Open Air market for some fruit. Even though my daddy’s grown enough squash to feed a small country, I couldn’t help but buy some when we saw it for such a good price (.58 a pound). We also bought some tomatoes, grapes, plums, peaches, oranges, and 2 ears of corn for a grand total of $11. I was excited to cook tonight because I just so happen to make the best grilled (okay, sauteed) squash on earth.
It’s crisp around the edges, buttery and oniony with a little bit of garlic, and never watery or soggy. Wanna make some for yourself? You really should. It’s the best side dish in the world!
You’ll need:
3 medium large yellow squash
1 sliced/chopped yellow onion
1 clove of garlic (minced)
2 tablespoons of butter
salt
pepper
onion powder
Wash the squash and DRY THEM OFF COMPLETELY. Melt your butter in a large silver skillet (NOT a non-stick skillet!) on medium-high heat (number 7 is perfect on my stovetop). Once the butter is melted, add your onions, minced garlic and some salt. Slice the squash into half-inch thick medallions. When the onions are tender, add the squash, then scrape the skillet and shuffle the medallions around to make sure your onions are mostly on top of the squash and the squash are lying flat on the skillet.
Add more salt, a dash of pepper, and garlic salt, then shuffle it all around again. Now it’s important that you let the medallions sizzle for a while without stirring them around for a few minutes. Don’t worry about burning them — this is the only way to make them perfectly crispy. Wait about 4-5 minutes, then shuffle them around again to make sure all the squash are getting some flat face time on the skillet. Bump the heat up if you have any water in the skillet. Between stirrings, let them sizzle untouched for about 4-5 minutes. You’ll only need to shuffle them a few times, with plenty of sizzle time in between. Once you notice lots of the squash getting crispy brown edges, remove the skillet from the heat. They’re done!
This recipe serves 2-3. Doesn’t stretch much further than 2 in our house though.
We had this with steaks, corn on the cob and salads. Mmmmm… Do try it. You’ll thank me!