Courge

We have two categories of squash: the winter, or hard-skin type, and the summer, or soft-skin type. Winter squash include acorn, hubbard, and turban. Their meat is orange in color, and they are hard to cut and clean. I suggest baking them whole. Once they are cooked, cut them, discard the seeds, and scoop the pulp from the rind. Use the pulp as a vegetable or in such dessert favorites as squash pie and pudding.

Soft-skinned squash include yellow summer, green zucchini, and the white “pattypan.” They are eaten in their entirety. They may be cooked according to any one of the eggplant recipes or one of the six basic methods of cooking meats. Serve them buttered or with a sauce. Particularly good are sautéed zucchini with Hollandaise sauce and fried pattypan with Portugaise sauce.