I’m bringing back Scrap Eats after a slight hibernation over the past year. Each time I thought about starting it back up, there was a lack of inspiration. But over the past few months I was able to start my first garden with a substantial amount of space compared to digging through rocks at our college house and trying to salvage the soil. Working in the plot seemed to bring back part of the creativity in how I thought about food.
I decided to plant herbs, kale and a tomato monster of a plant. What space the tomato plant didn't conquer in the plot, the summer squash did. I'd never worked with the edible flowers and wanted to see if I could utilize the leaves as well. Using the whole plant was the spark I needed to reintroduce Scrap Eats, so welcome and I look forward to sharing and learning how to minimize food waste.
I'm sure many of you have eaten or seen summer squash around, but the flowers are stunningly vibrant and can be cooked and eaten just like the vegetable. I initially wanted to roast the flowers with eggplant, but went the unhealthy route by stuffing them with cheese and frying them.
I roasted eggplant and used up some makeshift pesto to go with the flowers. There's not always herbs ready to pick or pine nuts in the pantry, so I'll throw in some fillers like spinach or sunflower seeds. Plated it pretty because its fun and it made for a fresh dinner that can be cooked in about an hour on a lazy evening.
The leaves were a little more intimidating to work with. My first attempt was blanching the leaves and adding them to pasta, which didn't go well. The texture was not ideal and I ended up making another makeshift pesto with the rest of them. The recipe is simple:
Blanch the leaves in generously salted water for about 1 minute and transfer to an ice bath. Combine all ingredients, except olive oil, in a food processor and then start to drizzle the oil in. Blend until it reaches the consistency you would like. Less oil makes for a clumpy pesto and more will nicely work in pasta or salads. Mine was in between the two ends of the texture spectrum and combined with cannellini beans. I used canned, but any kind of bean will work for a warm or cold deli salad. I warmed mine up and put it on top of the Saturday morning baguette. You can also mix the pesto with vegetables, pasta, grains or beans.
If there wasn’t enough of the squash plant in the pesto, I made a Sunday night dinner with almost the whole spread. I love summer squash the simple way with easy ingredients. Saute some diced squash and some onion in olive oil, add a little salt and pepper, toss in Parmesan and you're done. Five step weekday dinner (and you can mix the beans and pesto with this for lunch the next day). My favorite way to eat summer squash is with onions and peppers wrapped in tin foil, and cooked over the fire while camping. I chop them up before a car camping weekend and they’re a filling and campfire meal.
What summer squash recipes have you been looking at? What are your go-to summer crops to cook with? I want to learn from your recipes and if you'd like to give mine a try, look no further.
Fried Squash Flower & Eggplant
Eggplant
Summer squash flowers
Pesto of your choice
Cheese of your choice
Lemon
Parmesan cheese
Equal parts vodka, water, flour, corn starch
Baking Soda
Salt
1 cup canola oil
Slice eggplant set out on a baking sheet before sprinkling them with salt. Salting the eggplant dehydrates them for a better roast. Let those sit for anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour depending how much time you have. Water will start to pool on top of them, just dab off and add olive oil and pepper to the slices before putting in the oven. Cook at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes.
While those are roasting mix the vodka, water, flour and corn starch together for the batter. Add a dash of baking soda to help the batter rise and a pinch of salt for some flavor. I like using a vodka batter because its really light and flaky, and a lot less of a mess compared to the flour and egg wash route. Remove the piston from the center, inside of the flour and stuff with a piece of cheese. The piston tastes bitter and I personally love something cheesy and fried. Heat up the canola oil to a high heat, coat the flower in the batter and fry! Once the outside is golden brown, remove from the pan and sprinkle with salt. Assemble your plate and finish with a squeeze of lemon.
Summer Squash Leaf Pesto
1.5 cups (5-8 leaves) of leaves
¼ cup Parmesan
½ cup basil
¼ cup parsley
1 raw clove of garlic
½ cup olive oil (optional to add more)
Salt and pepper to taste
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the summer squash leaves to the pot and let sit for 1 minute. Drain and transfer to an ice bath immediately after removing the leaves. Add all ingredients, except the olive oil, to a food processor and blend until all ingredients are finely minced. Drizzle olive oil in as you go until the pesto reaches the desired consistency.
Simple Summer Squash & Onion
½ onion
1 large or 2-3 small summer squash
3 tablespoons olive oil
Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Heat a pan to medium heat and then add olive oil. Let the oil heat for about a minute. Chop the onions in a large dice and add to pan. Cook onions about 5 minutes on medium heat or until translucent. Chop the summer squash in a large dice as well and add to the pan once the onions start to look translucent. Cook for another 8 minutes. This allows for the squash to cook, but still have a slight crunch and avoid the mushy texture. Add salt and pepper and as much grated Parmesan as you please.
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