Treasure in the Garden - Butternut Squash Spoon Bread

Each afternoon when I get home, I grab a bucket and go looking through the garden for the freshest, most delectable treat that I can come inside and turn into a meal. Especially at this time I'm picking a lot of cucumbers.  I like the crispness and flavor of a Boston Pickling Cucumber, but for cutting up and eating raw, there's nothing that comes close (in my humble opinion) than a Suyo Long Cucumber. They originated in Northern China and have small seeds.  Long is their middle name for a reason!  They mostly get to be 18 inches long and are quite hard to keep in the bucket.  It actually looks like a bucket of snakes.  I'll take them inside and cut them, adding apple cider vinegar and some kosher salt and black pepper and a splash of olive oil.  It makes for a nice lunch tomorrow.

But hold on just a minute, there's something else in that bucket...  A couple of butternut squash.  Butternut squash is so sweet and delicious.  How can we prepare these?

Well, we're all about trying new things and the October 2011 Southern Living Magazine had a recipe for Butternut Squash Spoon Bread that looked very interesting.  I don't think I've ever eaten spoon bread.  Corn bread?  Absolutely.  But not spoon bread.  Let's give it a try...

2 cups buttermilk
4 large eggs, separated
2 cups pureed butternut squash (doesn't get much fresher than this!)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
1 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup butter melted

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Cook buttermilk over medium high heat, stirring often, 4 to 6 minutes, but do not boil.  Remove from heat.

Lightly beat egg yolks and stir in squash and cheese.  Combine cornmeal and the next 4 ingredients and another bowl. Pour warm buttermilk over squash mixture and whisk until smooth.  Let stand for 15 minutes until lukewarm.

Brush a 2 1/2 to 3 quart baking dish or 12 inch cast iron skillet with melted butter. Stir the remaining butter into squash mixture.

Beat egg whites at high speed until stiff peaks form.  Fold into squash mixture and then pour mixture into dish.

Bake at 350 F for 30 to 35 minutes or until top is golden and a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean.

Well, how did it turn out, you ask?  Well, take a look below...

Spoon bread is different than corn bread in that it is more of a pudding than a bread.  It is light and airy.  Actually, it is more like a souffle than anything, so Tricia served it in our souffle cups.  It was still warm - right out of the oven.

The taste?  Well, it was heavenly.  I told Tricia that each bite kept getting better and better. This recipe is a keeper and we will keep it in the rotation.  The pics don't really do it justice, but butternut squash spoon bread is a hit!

In researching spoon bread, I learned that this dish originated with the Native Americans.  They called it "awandaw."  It was common during the Revolutionary War times and George Washington loved it and served it often at Mount Vernon.

I'm glad that Southern Living Magazine gave us an opportunity to discover this old dish in a new way, by incorporating sweet butternut squash into it.  We have some leftovers, so I'll grab by spoon and eat more spoon bread tomorrow night.

Summertime Cukes

We grow two different varieties of cucumbers in our garden – The Boston Pickling Variety and The Suyo Long Cucumber.  I let them trellis up the side of concrete reinforcing mesh that I have anchored on the cucumber row with T-posts.  Cucumbers really thrive in our climate and their production is noteworthy.  Each day I have to check them as I don’t want them getting too large. 

For the Boston Pickling variety, I like them to be on the small side.  Sometimes I’ll overlook a ripe one covered up by all the foliage and will only see it when it gets big and begins turning yellow.  I will still eat them at that stage, but I find that they have large seeds and are a little on the bitter side.  The one in the photo below is the absolute perfect size.  It reminds me of the dill pickles that I would buy at the baseball park as a kid.  Just looking at them makes my mouth pucker.  They are so good!

Boston Pickling Cucumber

At this time of year when it is so hot outside, cucumbers make a perfect cooling snack.  I like to slice them in bowl and put some olive oil and apple cider vinegar over them along with some kosher salt and coarse ground pepper.  After you put them in the ice box for a while, they are cool, crispy, crunchy and refreshing.  I can eat them until there’s nothing left in the bowl.  And that’s a good thing, because Tricia is not a fan and we have plenty more coming as you can see by all the blooms on the vines shown above and the baby cukes shown below…

In addition to eating them raw, we’ll can our own dill pickles using the fresh dill we grew and dried this year, make fermented pickles (Tricia loves this kind!), and make tzatiki!  I can’t wait for some of that.  Here is a nice collection of Boston Pickling Cucumbers right here:

Here are the Suyo Long Cucumbers that I mentioned earlier.  They originate from northern China. We like to eat them.  They grow to about 18 inches long and sort of look like long, green snakes on the trellis.  I find that the seeds are small - almost nonexistent.   

Suyo Long Cucumbers

Now for the Boston Pickling variety, I saved seeds for the last two years and replanted using saved seed.  I've never saved seeds from the Suyo Long variety, but I'll try this year since I am out of the Suyo Long seeds that I purchased from Baker Creek.  Hopefully, I can be successful.

We'll continue harvesting as many as we can and enjoy eating them before they fizzle out in the summer heat.  Summertime cukes are a cool, refreshing snack.