Yum, PattyPan

Have your seen a Patty Pan before?

Have you ever tried Pattypan? It was completely foreign to me until a week ago; I received PattyPan in my Produce Co-Op, and it’s vibrant colors and cute bell-shaped immediately appealed to me. I did my usual Pinterest Research and found some recipes, but when it came down to it, I ended up mixing some things in the kitchen and coming up with a yummy dinner option. Pattypan has a lot of aliases: known as the flying saucer, cymling, scalloped, custard, or sunburst squash. It comes in a variety of colors too such as white, green and yellow. It size ranges in diameter but it typically about the size of your palm. The smaller Pattypans are more tender than, the larger, and its flavor is described as butter or olive oil like flavor. It is a distinct flavor compared to its cousin’s zucchini and yellow squash.

So many ways to cook a PattyPan

When preparing it does not need to be peeled. There are some ways you can make it: you can slice it, cube it, shred it and cook it. It can also be served raw like you would serve any other summer squash, it’s so cute though it’s good to accentuate its true form when cooking it there is no wrong way to prepare it. It can be braised, steamed, roasted, or grilled whole. Hollow it out like I did for this recipe and stuff it with anything your heart desires. You can even use it for soup bowls if you like, slice it horizontally and make pizza. There are so many options for PattyPan, and it goes great with any flavor combination because of it’s flavor.

Getting the Girls on board

My girls love taco’s so I figured to get the to try something new it need two things taco meat and cheese.  I always add lots of vegetable for fillers in my taco meat: carrots, onion, garlic, peppers, black beans and this time I scooped out the Patty Pan chopped it up and added it to the mix.  It was very easy to make and came out with lots of flavors.  The only problem I have now is finding more Pattypan.  My family loved it; it had a distinct flavor which I don’t find with summer squashes. Winter squashes tend to have unique characters. Summer squash usually takes on the flavor of whatever it is cooked with, for example, garlic or onion, etc.  It also seemed more dense than your typical yellow squash or zucchini. Do you have a favorite summer squash recipe?

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:30]