Man oh man are Zephyrs good! I had a little slice raw and thought "ok". But the flavor really comes out with cooking. Mmmm. Here's the recipe I used:
Cut the tip ends off, and boil the squash or zucchini until the skin pierces easily with a fork. Slice in half lengthwise, and make a few light cross-cuts on the open faces. Spread with melted butter or squeeze margarine. Sprinkle with seasoned salt and a little Parmesan cheese. Broil until the cheese is browned, about 5 minutes.
I wrote about this recipe once before - click there if you want to see a picture of the finished product.
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I worked the garden hotline last week, and one of the calls was about problems with squash. The caller asked if she should put Sevin dust (Carbaryl) on the leaves. A lot of people don't realize that Sevin is extremely toxic to bees. And bees pollinate squash. So no, I wouldn't recommend it! The bees seem to be having a hard enough time lately as it is.
If you must use an insecticide on your squash, apply it at dusk, when it will probably harm beneficial insects the least.
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There is an interesting Cucurbit Disease key by Vegetable MD online (from Cornell).
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The other squash in the picture is a pattypan or scallop type squash, Flying Saucer. Haven't eaten it yet - review on that one later!
YOur squash are lovely and the recipe looks great. Okay, hotline lady, tell what is just gobbling down my squash leaves. Not holes, not ragged edges, but entirely missing leaves? My father in law always advises Sevin for everything. I think he puts it on his garden even if he doesn't have a pest yet, just for good measure.
ReplyDeleteOkay, everyone wants to say it. I'll be the one to do it.
ReplyDeleteThe pattypan squash looks . . . squashed!
Meredith, now understand that at the hotline office I am backed up by dozens and dozens of books, reference guides, etc. At home, not so much! But with entire leaves being gone I'd have to suspect a critter. Rabbits maybe? If anyone else has any better ideas please chime in. Otherwise I will have to try to remember to look it up next time I'm in the hotline office.
ReplyDeletePablo, that's why it's called a flying saucer I guess. :) Actually on those I bought the wrong kind... it was a different variety that we enjoyed so much last year from the farmer's market. But maybe these will be good too.
The leaf munchers could be turtles-I've hauled a few rather large ones out of my garden but I've never actually seen them chomping on my veggies.
ReplyDeleteYour squash recipe sounds wonderful! :)
Ok, so now that I've read your comment about the "wrong" squash, my question has changed: where did you get the seed for last year's squash that you liked so much? Do you have a variety name? And did this year's "mistake" taste good?
ReplyDeleteWe're growing a lot of pattypan this summer (bright yellow and pale butter colored) and I am loving it more than the yellow crookneck which I've always cooked. I'd be interested in adding a green one to the mix next year if it tastes good.
Zephyr is the name! That's it in the picture (the long ones). We got the seed from Johnny's. The Flying Saucer squash is good too but so far I've just had it in a highly seasoned dish so that was probably not the best thing to use it in first. But the texture is good. I'm growing the yellow pattypan too but haven't gotten any of those yet.
ReplyDeleteI'm also growing a variety called Costata Romanesco that we got from Baker Creek Seed Co. Haven't gotten one of those yet either. (We planted kind of late.)
KF you should try it, it's good & easy.