Baked Summer Squash
| June 2, 2012 | Posted by Renaldo under Cooking, Produce, Recipes |
Only recently have I started to really appreciate squash. This time I think I’m hooked. My wife, who usually prepares our meals at home, had come up with an excellent recipe for summer squash. She prepared it as though it was eggplant. We usually have baked eggplant along with our pasta, but this time we tried yellow crook neck squash, sometimes referred to as summer squash.
We placed the squash in a casserole dish with olive oil and Italian bread crumbs then covered the dish with foil and placed it in the oven at 350⁰F for 20 to 30 minutes, depending on your oven.
The trick to make sure it comes out right is to remove the dish (with oven mitts of course) from the oven close to the last 5 minutes of baking and then remove the foil from casserole dish then shake parmesan cheese on top of it or throw in a little bit of marinara sauce for more flavor. Place it back in the oven for five minutes. Remember to do it this time without the foil so that it almost burns the surface (make sure you turn on the oven light so you can see). Once it is done you may add more parmesan cheese and herbs to your liking.
I added a little bit of balsamic vinegar to my portion for more flavor. The baked squash was an excellent complement to the lasagna dish we had prepared. Squash can be incorporated into many types of Mediterranean dishes.
If you have a particular way to prepare summer squash please share.
Did you know that squash is technically a fruit even though it is considered a vegetable?
Baked Summer Squash
makes 6 servings
1 1/2 – 2 pounds summer squash (such as zucchini, pattypan squash, yellow crookneck squash)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/3 cup bread crumbs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup chopped mixed fresh herbs such as basil, thyme, parsley and oregano
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350° F. Remove stem ends and slice squash cross-wise in 1/4″-thick rounds. Toss with olive oil.
In a small bowl, combine bread crumbs, Parmesan, salt and pepper. Arrange half the squash rounds in bottom of a 9″ by 12″ rectangular baking dish, or similar. Sprinkle with half the bread crumb mixture. Arrange remaining squash on top and sprinkle remaining bread crumb mixture.
Cover baking dish with foil and bake in oven for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake another five minutes.
Top with chopped herbs and serve
Source: http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-baked-summer-squash-60018
Though considered a vegetable in cooking, botanically speaking, squash is a fruit (being the receptacle for the plant’s seeds). Squash can be served fresh (in salads) and cooked (squash stuffed with meat, fried squash, baked squash). Small pattypans are good for pickling. Source: Wikipedia
