Ideas for using rather tasteless squash?

[CarolineW]

Hello all you clever cooks,
My big disappointmen on the allotment this year were the patty pan squash.  All the other kinds I grew are delicious and Ive got pleny of ideas for using them, but I have 6 patty pans left demanding to be used rather than wasted and frankly they are rather bland.  I used the rest of them in chutney, but Ive run out of jars and storage space!

I wondered if they  could be put into cakes, or turned into a pure to thicken soups etc, or whether that will just downgrade the cakes, soups, etc?

Im a bit stumped on how to use them up - do you have any clever ideas? TMX  or otherwise.

[Shayla]

I use this recipe for gem squash so would probably work well with any of the watery types.

6 gem squash cooked until tender and flesh scooped out
1 small onion
125 gm cream
1 egg
100gm  tasty cheese - cheddar or gruyere or mixture
50 ml white breadcrumbs
5gm salt and pepper to taste
mixed herbs to taste

Grate onion speed 5 2 seconds set aside
Grate cheese speed 8 5 seconds set aside
Beat cream and egg speed 4 10 seconds
Add onion and cheese and all other ingredients to mixture and combine 10 seconds speed 4
Add flesh from squash and mix until combined.

Spoon mixture into greased shallow ovenproof dish and bake 50minutes 180C until starting to brown.
Serve hot.

My children always loved the squash done like this and we still have it often with a roast.

Enjoy!

[judydawn]

Hi Caroline, I have always found them to be a rather tasteless, watery vegie particularly if just steamed.  There are some alternative ideas here you might like to check out and on another site I found where they were pan fried in a bit of butter, now that would have to add flavour.

[andiesenji]

I chop them into approximately 1 inch cubes.

I put 3 tablespoons or so of bacon drippings into the TMX set the heat to 90 and  add a chopped, medium onion, a couple of cloves of garlic, smashed and sauté for 8 to 10 minutes.
I then add some curry paste - I use Patak's Madras curry paste - and cook for an additional 4 minutes.
Add 1/2 a cup of chicken stock and then add the squash, cook on  for about 8 minutes - still on heat 90.  Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. 

I serve this over rice.  For vegans, I make it with vegetable oil and vegetable stock.   

[Vivaroo]

Ate at an Indian restaurant the other night, there were big pieces of squash in the curry so I think a good flavoursome sauce is the way to go.

[CarolineW]

Thanks!  Great ideas.  I'll do the curry and the side dish, both sound lovely and between them I should manage to use all the squash up.