Squash & Gourds
1180 recipes found
Salmon or Tuna Carpaccio with Wasabi Sauce
Sushi-grade salmon or ahi tuna will work nicely for this easy, delicate dish, and you don’t even have to be a whiz with a knife to make it.
Mussel and Pasta Salad
Polenta With Sausage and Tomato Sauce
Seaweed Salad With Cucumber
Grilled Striped Bass With Charred Kale and Yellow Squash
Grilling striped bass is a great way to cook the fish because the skin takes on a char that goes well with other strong flavors like oregano-laden chimichurri sauce. Usually paired with meat, chimichurri plays off of bass just as beautifully, as long as you use a light vinegar like champagne or rice wine, rather than balsamic. In preparing the fish, make sure the grill is hot first and be patient about flipping — you usually want about 4 minutes per side for a 7 to 8 ounce piece. Drop some local lacinato kale and thinly sliced yellow squash onto the grill as well for a charred vegetable side.
Seaweed Salad
Seaweed comes in many forms, and is used extensively in Japanese cuisine. Most of us are familiar with the pressed sheets of nori that are wrapped around sushi, and kombu, the dark green algae that is simmered to make classic dashi broth. Japanese groceries have a dizzying array of salt-packed specialty varieties, but many supermarkets and health-food stores sell packages of dried seaweed, which may be the most user-friendly. Two types that are commonly available are reddish-purple dulse and bright green wakame. Both simply need bathing in cold water for a few minutes to soften and ready them for use. Once soaked and drained, the seaweed is tossed with a simple traditional dressing of sesame oil with ginger and soy. My version makes a fine vegetarian meal, with thin slices of carrot, radish, cucumber and daikon, along with avocado, green onion, pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds.
Zucchini Blossoms Stuffed With Tuna
Butternut Mac-n-Cheese
When Kim Quay needed a name for her catering and prepared food business, in Morrisville, Pa., her mother suggested Comfort Food. Ms. Quay, whose menu is based on whatever foods the local farmers happen to be providing, thought the name was apt. She likes to take traditional foods and recreate them based on the season and the produce that is available. Adding pureed butternut squash to this dish cuts the cheese in half but adds more flavor. Ms. Quay said it’s one of her most popular fall dishes. “We sell so much of that, and you don’t have to feel as bad eating it,’’ she said. “You might not want to eat it every single day, but you’re still lowering the guilt factor.’’
Grilled Halloumi and Minted Zucchini Sandwiches
Halloumi, a Greek cheese, has a squeaky texture and high melting point and maintains its bounce even if you grill it or sauté it to a golden crust — which is exactly what you’ll do for this riff on a simple cheese sandwich. Fresh baguette, grilled zucchini and onion, the soft-crisp cheese? It is a sandwich rich and savory enough for dinner.
Orecchiette With Grated Squash, Walnuts and Ricotta Salata
I don’t know why it had never occurred to me to grate hard winter squash until I started envisioning this pasta. If you have a food processor with a grater blade, this will be the easiest way you’ve ever prepared winter squash, short of sticking it in the oven skin and all. The cooked grated squash lodges in the indentations of the ear-shaped orecchiette, a perfect pairing.
Cucumbers With Feta, Mint and Sumac
Garden-grown summer cucumbers are ideal for this easy salad, but even hothouse cucumbers are vastly improved with this zesty treatment. The sumac powder can be found at Middle Eastern groceries or online spice emporiums. Sumac adds a pleasant sour flavor that lemon juice alone does not provide. To keep the cucumbers crisp, don’t dress them more than 30 minutes before serving.
Green Ceviche With Cucumber
This is a dish good enough to feed presidents, and that’s what it did when the chef Rick Bayless served it at a state dinner at the White House in 2010 for President Felipe Calderón of Mexico. The green hue comes from cilantro and parsley, and the recipe is similar to one in “Fiesta at Rick’s,” his cookbook published that same year.
Cold Tomato Soup with Farro
Farro’s role in this gazpacho of sorts (without the traditional bread thickener), is that of a garnish. It contributes texture and substance to the light summer soup. I spoon about 1/4 cup of the cooked wheat berries into each bowl and also add diced cucumber. The farro sinks, the cucumber floats. When you get to the bottom of the bowl, you’ll find some lingering grains of farro enrobed in the delicious, tangy soup.
Herby Farro With Butternut Squash and Sour Cream
The herb and chile paste that seasons rice in arroz verde is also a great match to nutty farro and sweet butternut squash. As everything bakes in the oven, the garlic and onion lightly steam, the herbs wilt, and the farro tenderizes while maintaining its signature chew. Fresh lime zest and juice perk everything up. This dish is great with salmon, pork or chicken — or, skip the sour cream and this becomes a hearty, vegan main that partners well with black beans.
Zucchini Pasta with Sungold Tomatoes, Corn and Sunflower Seeds
Making zucchini pasta is simple, but there are some rules to keep in mind. Green or yellow gold bar zucchini are better to use than the yellow, pear-shaped variety. Zucchinis are firmer skinned and more cylindrical than other squashes, which works well in a mandoline. Be sure to squeeze out as much water as possible with a cheesecloth or kitchen towel or the zucchinis will leach a puddle of water onto the serving plate after salting. To dress the pasta, a combination of olive oil, lemon juice and basil leaves works just as well. This dish is served with Sungold tomatoes and corn to add sweetness, and sunflower seeds for crunch.
Chilled Cucumber Soup With Avocado Toast
A chilled cucumber soup, whirled together in the blender to serve as an instant dinner, is one of the quiet rewards of midsummer. The trick to making it hearty enough is to not stint on the seasonings, especially when something as mild as cucumber is the main ingredient. Garlic, plenty of herbs, jalapeño and anchovy add plenty of flavor, while buttermilk contributes a creamy, light texture. You could serve this with nothing more than some crusty or toasted bread on the side and be satisfied, but a topping of soft avocado dressed with a little lemon juice and feta cheese fills out the meal nicely. And the muted green colors of avocado toast and cucumber soup look as cooling as they taste.
Creamy Goat Cheese and Cucumber Sandwich
A creamy goat cheese and cottage cheese blend provides satisfying and comforting flavor. I use sumac to bump up the already satisfying and comforting flavor of the creamy goat cheese and cottage cheese blend that blankets cucumbers, celery and dill. My first choice for bread is pumpernickel, but black bread or whole wheat country bread are also good.
Italian Bread And Tomato Salad
Brother Juniper's Roasted Three-Seed Bread
Greens and Chayote Enchiladas With Salsa Verde
Lightness is not an attribute usually associated with enchiladas, the most comforting of Mexican tortilla foods. But these enchiladas, filled with a mix of blanched seasoned chard and succulent diced chayote and covered with a classic cooked tomatillo salsa, are both light and incredibly satisfying.
Cucumber and Sake Granita
Monkfish à la Provençale
Gigot de Mer à la Provençale is roasted monkfish seasoned with rosemary, thyme, bay leaf and garlic that is served on a bed of ratatouille. What could be more Provençale?
Everyday Salmon With Tangy Cucumbers and Fried Shallots
A large piece of fish, like salmon, cod or halibut, cooked for less than 20 minutes in a cloak of olive oil, makes an ultimate low-pressure, unfussy main course that you can further dress up however you please. Set out the salmon with a big bowl of buttered rice, fried shallots, spicy cucumbers and other crunchy, lightly pickled vegetables for snacking. If you like, add jammy eggs for sauciness and salmon eggs for saltiness (and the opportunity to say “eggs on eggs!”), and you’ve got yourself quite a spread.
