Patty Pan Squash

After escaping work, I stopped by the Attalla Farmer's Market to see what yummy stuff they had that isn't grown up on Chandler Mountain. I picked up two colors of Patty Pan Squash, some onions, some blackberries, and some new red potatoes.

With such a plethora of tasty vegetables for dinner, I had to decide what to cook for dinner. After much debate (about 3 seconds) I decided that fried squash was on the menu for the evening!

My mother has always served Patty Pan Squash as a special summer treat, and I have never tried to cook them myself before, so I tried to remember everything I could about watching her cook them, and then, conveniently enough, she called, so I double-checked my memory.

To fry Patty Pan Squash like my mom does, you wash and then slice the squash into 4-5 thick circles (usually about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick). Dredge the squash in flour, then carefully place into a frying pan with about 1/4 cup hot oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the squash as they are cooking. Cook the squash on each side until well browned and softened. You may need to add more oil - my mom used Corn oil, I didn't have any on hand, so I fried mine in Rice Bran oil.

Note: I never use canola oil, as to me and my immediate relatives canola oil tastes like rancid fish oil. (Eeewwwww! - I made a chocolate cake with it once. :( So disgusting!)

Once the squash is nicely browned on both sides, it is ready to eat, and the hotter it is the better it tastes!

At mom's insistance, I added a piece of herbed cheese and a few slices of salami for protein purposes - but most of dinner was squash!

Breakfast this morning was very rushed - I managed to grab two slices of raisin bread, and made a cup of coffee once I got to work. Lunch was more of the fantastically yummy Ratatouille!

Mom had requested that I pick up some tomatoes for BLTs for her, which since I go over to their house on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, so I stopped by the S&S Packing house on my way off the mountain from work. I picked up the requested tomatoes, as well as all of the available ingredients for making the Roasted Vegetable Ratatouille (zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, green pepper, roma tomatoes).

So, dinner with mom and dad will be ratatoiulle, and whatever else we decide to have that we think will compliment it. More tomorrow!