We’ve been enjoying fresh squash from the garden for a couple of weeks now so I thought I would share tonight’s dinner experience with you.
We decided to try a new variety of squash this year and settled on the White Scallop Squash from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. We planted the seeds in the garden in mid April following the instructions available from The Old Farmer’s Almanac for planting seeds directly in the ground. The germination rate was nearly 100% and the new little plants took off at a phenomenal rate, producing long vines with large, healthy leaves.
Just when it started to look like we would see some fruit developing on the vines, Squash Vine Borers moved in. I prefer to garden without using any pesticides so the solution to this problem was to carefully slit the vine open where a borer was, remove and destroy the borer, then bury the vine under soil or compost. I checked the vines twice a day, keeping the borers out and the vines under the protective cover of soil; after about a week, the vines had all recovered to their formerly healthy state.
That brings us to the present. The plants are bearing prolifically, we’re already getting more squash than we know what to do with. We have cubed and sauteed these squash, baked them, pureed them, and, tonight, we’re frying them. Here is the squash we are preparing tonight:
After washing the squash, we sliced it into slices about a half inch thick, we dipped the slices into a milk and egg wash, then into a mix of flour and corn meal. We put the breaded slices straight into a skillet with enough oil to almost cover the slices of squash then fried them until golden brown on each side. We took the cooked squash out of the skillet and let it rest on a paper towel to soak up any excess oil then spinkled them with kosher salt.
The end result was delicious, this squash is tender and mild but not without its own distinct flavor. We harvested this squash in several different sizes over the growing season and found that, as the squash matured, the skin got thick and tough and the seeds grew harder – which is what we would expect with squash. With this variety, we found that it was best to harvest the squash when they are between four and five inches in diameter during the spring months and late fall. As the summer weather grew hotter and dryer, we found we had to harvest the squash when it was smaller – about three inches in diameter – or it would be tough and seedy.
The white scallop squash, in our experience, grows well, produces well, and is very versatile when it comes to cooking it. We will definitely be growing this variety again next year.