Want To Extend Summer Into Fall?

September 6, 2012 | 5 Comments

We were on the deck of our beach house last weekend, mourning the end of summer when my friend, leafing through Bon Appetit magazine, reminded me of how fabulous summer squash is, ie. the yellow and green squash with the edible skin. (The green ones I always call zucchini but summer squash is what you call it when you want to sound like you know what you’re talking about in the seasonal/local food world – actually summer squash is really the name for the group of squash that has the thin edible skin as apposed to winter squash that you have to peel) …Anyway, she reminded me how fabulous raw summer squash ”salad” is.

I generally don’t eat zucchini raw and go out of my way to avoid it on the crudite tray (as apparently do others as evidenced by its lone presence at the end of most parties), but shaved super finely, coupled with a few other food partners and dressed in something light (say lemon and oil), it is delicious.

For this one that I concocted, I had some corn to use up and in the spirit of prolonging summer, I decided to use it on this salad.  I highly recommend grilling it and then slicing it off the cob, but if you (like me) don’t have access to grill now that summer’s over, either toss a few cobs under the broiler and rotate (sounds easy but I’ve never done it so don’t take my word for it – but if you do it, let us know how it goes), even simpler- slice the corn off the cob (no need to cook it first), add butter or olive oil to a pan and saute it (the method used by this practical cook).

As for which cheese to use, I went with a goat’s cheese feta but you could use a pecorino or even a blue would be nice.  In the dressing department, I kept it simple with lemon and olive oil but if you have a homemade vinaigrette that’s light, you could definitely use that.

You can’t go too wrong with this salad even if you’re a terrible cook! The only way you CAN go wrong, is to cut the squash too thickly – it will be dreadful this way and no one will eat your salad, not even you.

Get the recipe for Summer Squash w/ Corn Salad. 

Your fave dishes for stretching summer into fall?

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  • SoMad

    Thx u for a great “raw” suggestion for zucchini. I try to keep to a raw diet and this let’s me bring ‘summer squash’ into the raw-fold! Also…most importantly thanks for clarifying WHAT summer squash actually is…corgette (as the Brits call it) zucchini, summer squash. Nice to finally know they’re all the same!

  • Lisa

    I’m not sure if it’s all in my head (and I think it may be), but I much prefer the taste of green summer squash to that of yellow. However, the additions of grilled corn, cheese and dressing, may soon turn me into a yellow summer squash lover :)

  • Kiran @ KiranTarun.com

    I love the title of this post! Seriously not willing to let go summer just yet ;)

  • http://www.wineimbiber.com/index.php/2012/09/zukezilla-part-4/ Wine Imbiber » Zukezilla (Part 4)

    [...] that compliments the flavor of the cornmeal. (As I mentioned, the original recipe called for yellow squash. Zukezilla subbed–in quite nicely!) I’m considering adding some cooked corn to the mix [...]

  • shrinkgirl

    I made this last night for my family and it was a hit. It’s always nice to have new squash recipes especially in summer when there is always squash in the CSA basket. I recently found your blog and am enjoying it. I’m sure I’ll be making other recipes as well!