Eat summer squash now; they are not called “summer” squash for nothing.

Eat them now, when they are small and sweet, firm and dry, and scant on seeds.  Eat them now;  Eat lots of them.  Treat them in all sorts of ways - grill them, saute them in butter and fresh basil; roast them in a ratatouille.

Keep eating them, and then stop, because they are not called autumn, winter or spring squash.  Eat them now, because they taste like a tilting shaft of summer light, but after September they become the wet, mushy, seedy child of bad vegetarian food.

 

 

My recent summer squash exercise involved a simple tempura batter; and there was nothing simple about the results.  The lightest of batters - flour, cornstarch and seltzer water -  crisped like a web over the sweet yellow flesh.

I was aiming at a composed summer salad, a variety of farm share vegetables prepared a variety of ways:

 roasted cherry tomatoes

grilled eggplant

steamed beets

fresh fig

tempura fried squash

 

 

No matter how well prepared, anything roasted, grilled, steamed, or fresh will have a hard time being desirable if there's something crispy and fried beside it.  This was kind of true with my salad; the fried summer squash was the center piece, the other vegetables were the bridesmaids - delicious and beautiful, but bridesmaids.

But, like bridemaids, they served a purpose beyond splashes of color:  the illusion of good health the other vegetables provided somehow eliminated any evils associated with frying, although this batter is so light, and the vegetables so perfectly cooked, there is probably less oil here than most greens tossed in vinaigrette, and a fraction of the badness - fat, fat, fat - lurking in a typical Caesar Salad.

 

 

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Summer Squash in Tempura Batter

 

ingredients

2 medium summer squash

approximately 2 tablespoons salt, divided

1 cup flour

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 1/2 cups seltzer water

olive oil for frying

 

Instructions

Slice the summer squash lengthwise as thinly as possible.  Lay them in a colander and salt them well.

Allow to sit for at least 15 minutes - longer is fine - so the squash begin to release some moisture.

Stir together the flour, cornstarch and seltzer water with a pinch of salt.

Heat to almost smoking a half-inch of olive oil in a large skillet.  When the squash  is ready, dip in the batter, and lay the pieces in the hot oil, working in batches, making sure not to crowd the pan.  Check the squash by peeking with tongs.  Turn over when the bottom side begins to brown well.  Brown on the other side.  Remove, and let drain on paper towels.

They are best served hot, but they are not terrible at room temperature.