Summer Squash Are Here!

The farmer's market was overflowing with summer squash today so I thought I'd share one of my favorite summer squash recipes, an easy and delicious pasta dish modeled after I ate at one of the best Italian restaurants I've been to, Trattoria la Siciliana. Situated at the southern end of the College and Ashby shopping strip, the Trattoria is small and loud with long lines and a cash only policy, but the food is so good you don't mind. Besides, it's par for the course in Berkeley. They serve an amazing dipping oil which makes it worth a visit just to munch on crusty bread drenched in the garlicy, fresh-herb packed oil. I've been there twice; the first time Kyle treated me for my birthday, the second time my dad treated us. The dish I'm about to share presented itself on the second trip and it was a revelation. Breadcrumbs on pasta?? Who knew the result could be so delicious? Apparently it's common in Italy but hasn't made it across the Atlantic.



Pasta with Summer Squash, Fresh Herbs and Bread Crumbs.

The following quantities are all relative and extremely approximate. Let X be the number of people you are going to serve.

2-3 * X medium summer squash
1/3-1/2 * X cups of fresh bread crumbs*
1-1.5 * X cloves of garlic
a little less than 1/4 cup*X of chopped fresh parsley
2 Tbsp * X chopped fresh herbs of your choice (in the photo I used marjoram)

your typical pasta serving size * X

Olive Oil
Parmesean

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cut squash into 1/4-1/2 in slices, put in a glass baking dish so large enough so that they sit in 1-2 layers. Chop, slice or mince the garlic and add to the dish. Splash with olive oil, salt and pepper, toss. Sprinkle with the bread crumbs and toss again. Put in the oven for 20ish minutes, or until the squash is cooked through and the bread crumbs are nice and golden.

While its baking, boil water, salt it and cook the pasta of your choice.

When the squash is finished you can either add the pasta and a little olive oil to the baking dish directly, or you can put the pasta onto plates and serve the squash-breadcrumb mixture over it. Sprinkle with Parmesan if you like and drizzle with some nice olive oil. Enjoy!

*You can make bread crumbs by putting some day old bread in a food processor and whirling it into crumbs. They freeze well so you make a bunch and keep some in the freezer. Some people like to toast their bread crumbs first, I generally don't.