OLS Week 10: Using Summer Squash

I was asked yesterday by a fellow subscriber to my CSA for summer squash recipes. It's that time of year. Old joke: It's safe to leave your car unlocked in small towns in Missouri, like the one I grew up in -- except during July and August when you'll return to find your back seat filled with zucchini.

The link I sent was this Summer Squash Slaw, so I decided to make it again. I made it with all yellow squash tonight since I didn't have any zucchini. It's somewhat prettier with the green, but tastes just as good with only yellow. The squash was from my CSA box, the onion and red pepper came from tonight's Maplewood Farmers Market. I used local honey instead of sugar in the dressing and some habanero apple cider vinegar from Blue Heron Orchard (bought at Local Harvest Grocery).

Guess where else there is zucchini hiding in this meal? One of our favorite bread recipes is Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread made in the bread machine. I've long since changed the proportions of whole wheat and white flours -- I use 2 cups of whole wheat and 1 1/2 cup of white. Also we use gobs of fresh rosemary from our deck. But this loaf is special in two ways.

The zucchini came in one of my early CSA boxes before I'd quite got the knack of consuming the vegetables as they came. I grated and froze several cups of mixed zucchini and yellow squash. I froze each cup in a separate small container. Once frozen, I could dump the large squash cubes in a single ziploc bag for more efficient storage. Now, I thaw one cube at a time for this recipe.

Tonight's new addition was to use some sourdough starter in place of some of the flour. While I'm experimenting with sourdough, I find I'm throwing a lot of starter on the compost pile. One way to use it instead of lose it is in yeast breads like the Sourdough Honey Whole Wheat bread I made for this OLS post. Since my starter is whole wheat, I substituted a cup of starter for a cup of the whole wheat flour. Those of you experienced with sourdough starter will know that I should have also reduced the liquid -- I ended up adding quite a bit of flour in the first kneading. But the loaf rose very nicely and has a subtle tang of sourdough.

Rounding out supper is the sandwich filling -- chicken fresh from Farrar Out Farm at tonight's market. I cut the chicken, deboned the breasts (see my post about How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Whole Chickens), and marinated them in olive oil, fresh lime juice, and mustard. Then R did his magic on the grill. A nice meal!