Baby Patty Pan Squash - 10 Serving Suggestions

"Oh what are those, they are soooo...cute" is a frequent exclamation we here about our baby patty pan squash.

The next question is "How do you use them."

So here are some serving suggestions.

Maple Patty Pan Baby Squash - Pickled

I made this neat pickling recipe for baby patty pan squash. It would be good with just the pickled patty pan but the maple syrup adds a delightful twist and the jalapeno peppers create a slight spicy undertone.

We have baby patty pan squash in abundance.

Green Beans, Patty Pan Squash and Rotini Pasta

Green beans and patty pan squash might seem like an unlikely combination but they are great when combined with pasta.

Here is the recipe...

What seeds can I plant for a fall garden?

Along about the first of July the garden centers box up all their remaining seeds and send them back to the seed companies. But you know as a educated and well informed gardener that the season is far from over. In fact some of the best vegetables come from the fall garden.

I just got my fall seed order from Johnny's seeds in Maine. Let's talk about what you can plant from seed that will thrive in the fall.  Here is my top 10 list.

The Baby Vegetable Farm

A young lady stood in front of our farmers market stand with a quizzical look on her face. Her face turned from puzzlement to a knowing look as she said, "You guys are the baby vegetable farm." She was looking at all the signs that read baby spinach, baby arugula, baby patty pan, baby zucchini, baby beet greens, baby onions, baby carrots, baby cilantro, baby potatoes, baby okra, baby squash blossoms, baby kale, etc.

So why do we harvest everything at the baby size? Because that is the way we like to eat them and we think you will too. We get asked a lot if we plant special designer varieties that are just baby. They say they have never seen vegetables so small that taste so good.

Generally the varieties are regular varieties that are just harvested small. So yes you have seen baby zucchini, you just didn't take the time to pick them small. When you harvest small you need more plants than normal. Like we plant 4 rows of zucchini 300 feet long to get 50 -75 pounds of baby patty pan or zucchini a week. (If you let them get larger, generally one week later, this amount of zucchini would fill my whole pickup.)

I love to harvest greens at the baby stage; they are just perfect for salads without additional prep, catering to the consumer who doesn't have a lot of extra time. The flavor, tenderness and presentation at this stage is truly amazing.

We also like the baby size potatoes, so much so that we crowd our potatoes to keep them small. You don't get the yield you could that way but the percentage of small potatoes is way more and the flavor is still great.

So our very astute and observant customer was on to something. We do have a lot of baby vegetables both by design and through serendipity (the serendipity stories are for another time).

A Minnesota Paella

I first had a paella at Nosh Restaurant in Lake City, Minnesota. It is one of Greg Jaworski's signature dishes and is typically on the menu in any season. Greg is a weekly customer at the Rochester Downtown Farmers Market and buys greens (spinach, spring mix, arugula, ruby sweet, cress, baby kale), patty pan and carrots from our stand during the season. I'd highly recommend Nosh Restaurant and Greg's paella to you.

We had the fresh ingredients on hand so I thought I would make a paella for supper Saturday night after the market last week. The paella is a rice dish that originated in Spain near Valencia. It is very popular and is often considered  to be Spain's national dish. There are many variations. Greg makes his paella with his own house sausage and seafood including clams. A typical paella also includes vegetables, beans, short grain rice, saffron and olive oil. Paella is derived from the Old French word for pan, which comes from the Latin word patella for pan as well (I put that in here because my children have had 6-7 years of Latin in school and I thought they might recognize it.) Traditional paella is cooked over an open fire, fueled by orange and pine branches with pine cones, which produces an aromatic smoke which infuses the paella (I didn't go quite that far for authenticity.)

Ingredients:

1. Saffron rice. (I just bought a Spanish saffron rice and followed the directions. You could also add turmeric to rice to get the golden color.) 2 cups
2. Patty Pan (Petersen's) 1/2 pint
3. Yellow Zucchini Summer Squash (Petersen's) 1/2 pint
4. Sweet Onion -minced (Petersen's) (1 large)
5. French Fillet Beans -cut in half, with stems and tips removed (Petersen's) 1/2 pound
6. Garlic Minced (Petersen's) 2 cloves
7. Italian Sweet Sausage (You can make your own or uses your favorite)
8. Large Shrimp - 1/2 pound
9. Cajun Style Andouille Sausage Links (cut into bit sized pieces)
10. Paprika - tsp
11. Turmeric - tsp
12. Salt - 1/2 tsp (optional)

Directions:

In a large sauce pan prepare the rice according to the directions on the package. Takes 30 minutes.

In a large skillet cook the sausage thoroughly, leave in 1 inch chunks, let caramelize a little on the outside. When the sausage is almost done add the onions, garlic and shrimp. Cook another 5 minutes until shrimp is done. Add the patty pan, zucchini, and green beans. Cook lightly, leaving the vegetables crunchy. Add paprika, turmeric and salt.

In an official paella you have a paella pan and put the rice in the bottom, stir with the vegetables and meat and cook on a open fire or in the oven for 5-10 minutes after combining all ingredients. You want the rice to scorch a little on the bottom. I didn't do that.

I served the rice and meat/vegetables separately in bowls, letting each family member select the quantity of each (I wasn't sure everyone would like everything). Reed really likes shrimp so he took a disproportionate amount of that. 

For this same meal, Jenna made leek fritters with lime and sour cream. That is for another post.

Baby Patty Pan, Zucchini and Kale White Sauce

I made a delightful white sauce with very small Patty Pan and Zucchini squash, Baby Kale and Sweet Onions last weekend. We will have all of these at our market stand this week. I used Ricotta cheese as the base for the sauce. You can get hand made pasta at the Farmer's Market, or use any pasta you wish. I used bow tie pasta as I had that on hand.

It was very good, give it a whirl.

Ingredients:

1 box of patty pan squash (Petersen's)
1 box of baby zucchini squash, tips and stems remove and sliced into bite sized pieces (Petersen's)
Large bag of baby kale (Petersen's)
Large Sweet Onion, diced (Petersen's)
8 oz of Low Fat Ricotta Cheese
1 cups of low fat milk
white pepper to taste
salt to taste
pinch of cayenne or chipotle pepper
1 clove of garlic, minced (Petersen's)
1 tsp of arrow root starch or corn starch dissolved in a small amount of cold water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 pound pasta of your choice (bow tie, spiral, penne)

Directions:

Prepare pasta of choice and drain while finishing sauce (most pastas take 8-10 minutes to cook)

Saute onion with olive oil and garlic. When on)ion is starting to soften add patty pan and zucchini. Cook about 2 minutes (don't over cook squash). Stir in Ricotta cheese and milk, salt, pepper and cayenne. Warm up to where it just starts to bubble, add arrow root starch to thicken. Bring back to a simmer and add kale. Wilt kale and gentle stir into the sauce. Serve over pasta.

Kick It Up:

Serve Over Potatoes (Petersen's)
Serve Over Saffron Rice
Serve Over Seafood like scallops or shrimp
Add a little more cayenne.
Add some fresh Rosemary (Petersen's)
Add some fresh Basil instead of Kale, price is the same at our stall (Petersen's)
Add some fresh Thyme (Petersen's)
Add more garlic or several shallots. (Petersen's)

How to Cook Squash Blossoms

We have  1500 row feet of summer squash. In addition to the zucchini and patty pan, we get a large quantity of blossoms. We get asked how to prepare blossoms a lot, so here are some ideas we think your will enjoy.

1. Batter fried - amazing flavor, but adds lots of calories for a low calorie food.
2. Stuffed with a flavored cream cheese
3. Stuffed with a flavored cheese, we like pepper jack
4. Sprinkled with your favorite seasoning or herbs
5. Dipped in egg and butter cracker crumbs
6. Raw
7. Sauteed with your favorite sauce.
8. Stuff with a pesto or aoli

For serving a large quantity efficiently we like to preheat the oven to 350 F and spray a cookie sheet or two with a nonstick coating. Then stuff the blossoms with your favorite concoction and sprinkle them with your best yummy herbs (we like rosemary and thyme). They can be done ahead of time and then popped into the oven on the cookie sheets so they are all done at the same time. Good for a family meal or for serving at a formal party.

We sell a quart bag of blossoms for $3. It can cost $7 at some of the better restaurants for an appetizer of 3-5 blossoms. So you can experiment to your hearts content and it doesn't need to cost very much.