Email
RSSSummer squash. This is not typical of Irish Food…. at all.
Posted under:
Do you eat summer squash? Courgettes, zucchini? Did you eat this as a child? if you are from Ireland then the answer to this is a well rounded ‘No’. Am I right? My parents had a well planted garden that provided us with most of our seasonal vegetable needs but this gorgeous green giant never managed to set its roots in our veggie beds.
It was one of them foreign vegetables. One that only vegetarians ate. Something filled with water and no apparent flavour. There was no reason to have it clutter up space where the spuds would be growing.
And it does need a lot of space. Our summer quash seeds came from a friend of ours who has a rather enormous farm in Ohio. He popped over to vist us in January and brought a lucky bag of seeds. We are now enjoying the fruits of his labour and enjoying coming up with new and interesting ways to use it. Because, even right here, where the resident chef hardly ever cooks the same dish twice (unless you beg and plead) eating these kinda-tasteless sometimes-soggy squash gets a bit old. AND they do not freeze well at all. So, how do you save some of the summer squash? You bake it and then freeze it before everyone makes off with it!
You can do a lot with this little flower!
| Summer squash sustenance |
- 360 g { 3 cups } of plain flour
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 2 Tbsp baking powder
- 1 Tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp salt
- 240 g { 2 cups } sugar in the raw
- 4 eggs
- 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 300 ml { 1 & 1/4 cups } canola/rapeseed oil
- 360 g { 3 cups } grated squash with skin on (courgette/zucchini)
- 120 g { 1 cup } shelled pistachios
- 1 can of pineapple (crushed)
- Mix dry ingredients (except sugar) together and set aside.
- Beat the eggs until light and fluffy and then slowly add the sugar.
- Add oil, vanilla and pineapple but do not over mix.
- Next add the dry ingredients and fold in the squash and nuts.
- Bake in muffin cups or loaf pans or both.
- This recipe made 12 large muffins and 2 small loaves.
Buns or bread. This garden giant is very very versatile.
Most of the nutritional value comes from the skins on summer squash so it is best to include it whether you are baking with it or sautéing it for supper. Just scrub it well with a veggie brush and dry it off with one of your nice tea towels or the underside of your apron, if you are wearing one. And I know you are wearing one.
These little buns are very light, very flavourful and have a bit of healthy stuff in them too.
If you are wondering if it is even worth it, then have a look at the nutritional value and make the decision for yourself.
Those are all the WiseWords I have for today. Bracing ourselves for hurricane Katia to come ashore this evening.
WiseMóna
No related posts.
Like this post? Subscribe for free by email to get notified of new posts.
22 Comments + Add Comment
Got anything to say? Go ahead and leave a comment!
About MónaI am a native Galway girl that seems to be drawn to professions that rhyme with 'err'. Writer, Mother, Restauranteur, Wedding Planner, Dishwasher, Grass cutter, Cocktail maker. I suppose you could say I am a well rounded entrepreneur.
You can find me here
About the ChefYou can't find the Chef here.
You might as well just come visit.
He prefers face to face communication.
From The Kitchen
Buy the Book
Recent Comments
- WiseMóna on Hot off the press – The Sunday Times interview and first column
- Simone on Hot off the press – The Sunday Times interview and first column
- WiseMóna on Hot off the press – The Sunday Times interview and first column
- catherine on Hot off the press – The Sunday Times interview and first column
- WiseMóna on Hot off the press – The Sunday Times interview and first column
Latest Tweets
Networked Blogs
Stats
Oops, not wearing an apron. Will ensure to don same before reading Wise Words in future. How gauche and thoughtless of me. Wish I had a comforting slice of courgette cake.
Mise – I have only recently donned the apron
myself in the hopes that the younger ones will have
something to hold on to. I would offer to bring you a slice
of the lovely courgette cake but Granny came to
have supper with us tonight and took the last
of it with her. Next time I will make extra.
Now that is one way that I know I could get my children eating courgette (aka …’YUCK! Courgette. YUCK.!) Good to know that you can bake it and freeze it, I always imagined that it would make them too mushy. I am thinking that I might make this for my husbands birthday cake, which is today, as I have not yet felt any inspiration about what to make. Thanks for this.
Alex,
I hope you make it. We ate some (a few days old) and it was incredibly moist still.
I think that the combination of pineapple and courgette (and tell your children that mine feel the same way) is what works.
It is most worthy of a birthday cake offering. Windy and wet here in Galway.
Thanks for the visit xx
Hi Mona, it was lovely to meet you last week. You and Anne Marie made the day even more enjoyable. Now I can hear your actual voice as well as your writer’s voice as I read your blog.
These muffins are perfect to whisk up and scoff with a cuppa while pretending the tail end of Katia is not howling outside the door.
Thanks to you too Hester. The hurricane is blowing hard here. Roof tiles flying off the house next door!
I love hearing peoples ‘real voices’ too when you meet someone whose words you like to read.
It puts a lovely spin on things for a reader.
Stay dry!
Oooo and here I was thinking what that wind was doing today… But I’m guessing that could very well be a bit of Katia that we’re getting here. It’s been stormy all day. I hope you’re gonna be safe as those nasty winds can be tricky!
I love courgette and squash and all of that family but I don’t think we ever had one when I was growing up. That was strictly cauliflower, potatoes, carrots, brussels sprouts, green beans… stuff like that… Nothing exotic at all!
It is rather windy here too Simone. The storm is supposed to get worse this evening and hopefully blow through tomorrow.
I think that this must be an Italian veggie (??) then. I know that a lot of Americans eat it and it is a staple for those that are vegetarian
but still not seeing it pop up in a lot of ‘home dinners’ here in Ireland. But – it is very versatile, rich in nutrients and very easy to grow!
So maybe there is hope for it after all if we can get people to bake it into a nice bread.
Stay safe from the wind..xx
the cake was delicious but nxt time i need the full cake to share with people who hate courgettes.
Thanks Mum – don’t get greedy.
Ron is going to make the recipe himself and give a bunch to the teachers at school on Friday. I will add your name to the pile.
Love the addition of pistachios here. Zucchini bread and muffins have always been a fall favorite for me.
Thanks Sylvie. I love the pistachios too. We are making them for the teachers on Friday morning and I think I am going to add some toasted hazelnuts this time
because they are growing like weeds all around us. Thank you for the visit and the comment.
Hi Mona – love the look of that squash. And definitely love the look of the squash muffins! Sounds like an interesting mix of sweet and savoury. Yum!
Thank you Aoife. These particular squash are surprisingly sweet and very moist.
We eat it raw mostly for salads. It looks like avocado when shaved thinly in a bowl.
Very very tasty. Thank you for commenting Aoife!
I went to stay with an aunt in England when I was 7 – could not figure out when she was giving me ‘cooked cucumbers’ for dinner! Nobody believed me when I came home!
Muffins look divine!
Ha ha ha – I love it. Cooked Cucumbers!
These are nothing like cucumbers – but certainly are green.
I think that there are s many ‘new’ veggies available to us these days and are so easy to grow, it is easy to see why meatless mondays etc.
are popular. The muffins are really really delicious. Tx for the visit.
I never ate squash of any kind until I was an adult. If I had been served these cupcakes in my youth I think I’d of grown to love squash a lot sooner.
So nice of your friend Jon to bring you seeds from his farm in Ohio and how wonderful that they grew so well in your garden.
Love that you coloured your frosting green for these cupcakes.
Well, our eight year old daughter Rory picked the green colour for the squash. I thought she was going with the pink but she figured the green would look good and guess what….it did!
We are lucky to have such nice friends both here and back in the states and we are surprised ourselves at how well they grow each year.
I never ate this type of squash as a child either but my Mum used to cook something called a vegetable marrow (looks kind of like a butternut squash) and fill it with spiced apple and damson plums and brandy cream.
It was a very fine way to use an otherwise potentially boring vegetable!
Hello, and hope you are well! I feel like like I’ve hardly looked at a blog for days, half term is keeping me off the computer. I LOVE the look of these muffins and the icing looks to die for (or to lick for anyway!) And nutritious too!
Hi Alex,
Our kids mid-term break is next week so I am getting all caught up on my ‘reading’ this week because there will be no time next week with all four of them underfoot!
The icing was very buttery and good. You know, I think that there probably is a decent amount of nutrition in these muffins and with the pineapple and squash they are lovely and moist.
Enjoy the time with the kiddies. I am sure you are working up a storm in the kitchen with them!
I have been meaning to make zucchini bread for ages and, Mona, you’ve given me the itch and the craving now! Delicious! I do think treats like this are marvelous for breakfast and snacks all day long. Great recipe!
Ah – the zucchini plans are in the ground here but a long way off from producing even the tiniest blossom yet.
I think it is finding the balance with sweet treats and healthy treats. We give the kids very very little processed food so I think
allowing them to have cake for breakfast at the weekend is just fine especially if it is loaded with veggies and they like it!
Have a lovely weekend – hope it is sunny in Nantes xx