Squish Squash

Fried. That’s the way you get your first solid food in the Deep South. Squash is no exception–battered, fried yellow squash went with fresh-sliced vine ripe tomatoes straight from our vegetable man, Mr. Puckett (who died just recently.)

I don’t remember ever having the same dry-heaves response to squash that I did to canned asparagus (we couldn’t get fresh back then? Why EVER eat canned asparagus!?) The name alone has repulsed many a small child before the first bite might otherwise have been a possibility.

But I may have taken my last bite of squash–of the yellow variety, now that we have, for the first time, grown pattipan this year.

We sliced a few of the 5″ flying-saucer-shaped fruits and put them on the grill the other night, along with some marinated chicken. We dabbed them with olive oil, and sprinkled them with pepper and season salt. Unlike yellow crookneck, they have very little seed cavity and are mostly the firm, fleshy receptacle walls of the fruit of that particular vine. They don’t get mushy like the yellow ones, and actually have a bit of flavor on their own apart from the seasonings you add.

I just found this recipe for “creamed pattipan” that I think we’ll try.

I’m not sure about the storage potential for late-season pattipans, but I’m in the process of improving our small cellar to get rid of some moisture and retain more of the coolness over fall and winter, so may give a couple of these veggies a test, and next year, plant only pattipan. And try them cubed and fried. [I’m open for serving suggestions and recipes, y’all.]