Eeek-What to do with all this squash?!

September18

I hate wasting food.  This is one of the times when allow myself to use the word “hate”.  The five second rule has a long extension in our house.  My heart breaks when I open that mystery tupperware in the back of the fridge to discover that a special leftover that I was coveting for my lunch, has grown a fuzzy sweater and has to be put out of its misery.

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Turns out that a couple of these veggies were not squash but a cucumber like veggie that I had not tasted before.  So after this photo, I replaced them with more squash.  I then used my new favourite veggie in a rustic Greek salad to accompany the pasta.

I love the abundance of this time of year and we are delighted with our garden share basket every week but I am very careful to set aside hearty veggies like carrots, beets and potatoes to enjoy in a week or so and focus on the more perishable items.  Recently I blanched and froze cabbage leaves to make cabbage rolls in the future and I have been grilling and freezing our squash varieties to try to keep up.

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Last evening though I concocted a new use for zucchini and sunburst squash.  The family loved it including an intern from out-of-town who is living with us until Christmas.

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The quantities in this recipe are approximate for two reasons: a) by the time I get to test the recipe again, the urgency of the season may have past and 2) less stock or more vegetables will only change the consistency, not the taste.

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A great deal of the marvelous flavour comes from the bacon and renderings, so if I were to convert the dish to a vegetarian recipe I would delete the bacon, use a vegetable oil and add more onion and garlic to punch up the flavour.

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Bacon and Squash Pasta Sauce
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
 
Ingredients
  • 1 pound of bacon, cut into chunks
  • 4 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 liter of chicken or vegetable stock
  • squash, for amount see photo, cut into chunks
Instructions
  1. Saute bacon in a heavy bottomed pan, I used a braising pan
  2. When cooked to desired crispness, remove to paper towel with a slotted spoon
  3. Pour off whatever you would consider excess bacon fat, I used it all as my bacon was quite lean, leave at least 2 T in the pan
  4. Saute onion and garlic until fragrant
  5. Add squash and stock, bringing the mixture to a boil
  6. Cover with a tight fitting lid and let simmer about a half an hour
  7. When the squash has started to disintegrate, puree with emulsion blender
  8. Add bacon and toss with your favourite pasta
  9. Top with Parmesan if desired

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Kath’s quote: “The first zucchini I ever saw I killed it with a hoe.”John Gould

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Love-that is all.

posted under Entrees
One Comment to

“Eeek-What to do with all this squash?!”

  1. Avatar August 14th, 2014 at 10:25 am Ode to Bacon | Winnipeg food blog Says:

    […] Bacon & Squash Pasta Sauce […]


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