Patty Pan Squash

Last night I returned from a wonderful, but all too short holiday and family reunion.  It was SO GOOD to be with my family and I didn't want it to end.  But life must return to normal and routines and so bright and early this morning I was out in my garden to see how much had grown while I was away.  I was excited to be able to pick my first two Patty Pan squash!  Aren't they adorable?  They look like little white flying saucers.

These were rather large and I was concerned that perhaps they would not be as flavorful as smaller ones.  No need to fear though!  I made Stuffed Patty Pan for our dinner this evening and it was delicious.  It was the first time either the Mister or I had ever eaten patty pan and I hoped I would do it justice.  The Mister raved about dinner and I really enjoyed it too!  Yippee!  First meal with Patty Pan was a success!

As I mentioned, this particular patty pan was about 6 inches across so that was quite large.  One was more than enough for the two of us for dinner.

The stuffing is just soft bread crumbs, crumbled bacon and onion, parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste.  Really simple but oh so tasty!

Stuffed Patty Pan Squash

Ingredients:
Patty pan squash (mine was quite large but if you have small ones you can serve each stuffed individually)
3 slices bacon
1/4 cup diced onion
2 slices of soft bread crumbled into bread crumbs (about a cup or so)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F  (175 degrees C ).

2.  Bring one inch of water to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat.  Ad squash, cover and cook for 10 minutes or until a fork can pierce the stem with a little resistance.  DO NOT OVERCOOK or your final product will be mushy.  Drain and slice off the top stem of the squash.  Use a spoon or melon baller to carefully scoop out the centers of the squash.  Reserve all of the bits of squash bits you've scooped out.

3.  Place bacon in a large skillet and cook over medium high heat until evenly brown.  Remove bacon to paper towels and set aside.  Saute onion in bacon drippings.  Chop the reserved squash pieces and saute them with the onion for one minute.

4.  Remove the skilllet from heat and stir in the bread crumbs.  Crumble the bacon and stir into the stuffing along with the Parmesan cheese.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Stuff each squash to overflowing with the stuffing mixture and place in a baking dish.  Cover the dish loosely with aluminum foil.

5.  Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven or until the squash are heated through.


I imagine this stuffing would be good with any summer squash you have in abundance.  I'm looking forward to having steamed as well as grilled squash this summer.

Until next time,
Cheers!
Jennifer