How to Cook Summer Squash

The delights of summer must surely include the wondrous varieties of summer squash, including the ubiquitous zucchini, which seem to flourish even when grown by those of us who always manage to kill everything else in our gardens.

The term "summer squash" refers to several different squashes that are grown between frosts and deliberately harvested before their rinds harden. They grow on bush-like plants rather than on the spreading vines more typical of winter squash or pumpkins.

Summer squash comes in many different colors and shapes, often varying so greatly from one another that you might not know they were related unless you had been told.

I mentioned zucchini, perhaps the most familiar of the summer squashes. Its green color and club-like shape are typical of a class of summer squash that also includes caserta and cocozelle. While green is the predominant color among such this category of squashes, you will sometimes see yellow or white ones as well.

A second class of summer squash contains varieties bearing fruit in which the "neck" of one end is narrower than the other. Additional terms to further classify them include "crookneck" and "straightneck," which are self-explanatory. The color of these squashes is typically yellow.

Finally, there's patty pan squash. Also sometimes called scalloped squash, the fruit is round and flattened; some have described it as flying saucer-shaped. The color is typically white but green or yellow is sometimes seen.

Despite their differing appearances, all varieties of summer squash can be used interchangeably in the kitchen. So, anytime you come across a recipe for one type, and you have a different type on hand--no problem. Go ahead and cook!

Here's a recipe for one of the most popular summer squash dishes, zucchini croquettes.

Ingredients
2 large zucchinis
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 cloves garlic
2 eggs
1 teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
1 onion
Cooking oil

Directions

1. Grate the zucchini into a bowl. Add salt, mix, and let stand for 45 minutes. Drain off the excess liquid that will have been sweated out of the zucchini.

2. Crush the garlic gloves. Lightly beat the eggs. Dice the onion. Add these, with the other remaining ingredients (except for the cooking oil) to the bowl. Mix well.

3. Heat a non-stick skillet and drop the zucchini batter into it by spoonfuls. Cook until croquettes are well-browned on bottom, then flip and brown the other side. You may need to cook just a few croquettes at a time until you have used up all of your batter.

4. Let croquettes cool a bit, then serve and enjoy.

Here is a super-simple recipe for roasting any kind of summer squash in the oven:

Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs. of squash
3 teaspoons olive oil
2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Trim off the skin of the squashes. Cut each squash into bite-size pieces.

2. Mix olive oil and salt in a large bowl and coat the squash pieces in the mixture.

3. Place squash pieces on a baking sheet. Roast on the top rack of an oven preheated to 420 degrees until tender (test with a fork or knife). Roasting time should be between 12 and 16 minutes.

Sarah Sandori is the food and entertaining columnist for the Solid Gold Info Writers Consortium. Have you ever wanted to be able to exactly duplicate a favorite dish from a favorite restaurant? Check out Sarah's article where she reveals her source for the most mouth-watering secret restaurant recipes in America: http://www.solid-gold.info/most-wanted-recipes.html

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