Creative Cooking from our Garden 3 Squash Recipes

In this video we'll be sharing three creative recipes we've been enjoying from our squash harvest that we planted as seeds. We are Michael and Acacia, living on a small piece of off-grid farmland with our animals among the Cederberg mountains of South Africa, where the seasons are so prominent, each with their own beauty. We are learning to grow our own food, working with the seasons, not against them. We like to think of our garden as a living pantry that allows us to We are eliminating items off our grocery list while enjoying the food we have grown ourselves just a few steps from the kitchen. It can't get fresher than this, but it also didn't get to this point without any work put in. It all began months ago by preparing the soil to plant our seeds at the beginning of spring. One packet of squash seeds that cost us only 30 rand has grown into an abundance of food that is so rewarding to harvest, knowing we planted the tiny seeds into the soil with our own two hands, watering them each and every day until now in the summer we have more squash than we can keep up with. They seem to multiply just overnight and while it is a challenge to keep up with ever-growing squash, we like to see it as an opportunity to get creative in the kitchen and explore new ways to savor the flavors of the season. I'll be sharing a few different ways we enjoy cooking with this plant from the squash blossoms to the large zucchinis. This vegetable is often referred to with a few different names. You might have commonly heard them referred to as baby marrows, zucchinis, courgette or squash and it all just depends on what stage of growth the plant is picked in. We refer to the squash as a vegetable in culinary terms, but this is in fact a fruit as it develops from a flower and contains seeds. Something that I recently learned is that the squash plant has separate male and female flowers. The female flowers have a tiny squash at the base opposed to the male flowers that have long green stalks. I picked a few of the male flowers to attempt a new recipe I've never made before of deep frying squash blossoms stuffed with various filling. The flowers are very delicate and don't last long after being picked, so I got straight to work. I began gently washing the flowers, dipping them in a cold bowl of water. They can be a little bit spiky to handle, so using gloves during the harvest and preparing process could help if your hands are sensitive. After a rinse, I snipped off the little green leaves before I carefully cut the petals to open the flower, which is important to remove the pollen tip inside. I made sure to remove any bugs that were hiding inside the flower and repeated this process for each one. I then gave them one more rinse. While they were laying out to dry, I started to make the filling, which is optional and you can put basically whatever you like. I used some white cheddar cheese, smoked ham, basil and a chili from the garden for a little bit of spice. To create a light and airy batter, I used one small cup of flour and slowly mixed in soda water, replicating a beer batter. The consistency should be runny, almost like a thin pancake batter. Heating up cooking oil over the gas stove, I began to fill the squash flowers, carefully closing them up at the end, twisting the flowers, then dipping them into the batter, making sure to coat the entire flower before I added it into the hot oil. I fried them in small batches to avoid overcrowding and I let them turn a golden color, then removed them. I ended up letting each one sit on a paper towel to let the excess oil drip out while I cooked the rest. I was a little bit nervous to take the first bite, knowing all the spikes it had on, but I'm so glad I tried this out. It is truly a seasonal delicacy I will look forward to every summer. That's yummy. So crunchy. They're really not bad. I'm actually surprised. It's nice with the ham and cheese inside. Cooking with the open flame is a timeless tradition that infuses your food with smoky flavors. For the next dish, I decided I was going to make baked zucchini boats filled with the mince and tomato rice. We lit the fire to use our pizza bra, which is essentially an outdoor oven. By lighting a fire on top of the metal box, it heats up the inside. Cooking with the fire is unpredictable, which makes it almost even more enjoyable. The heat is almost never exactly constant and it requires a balance between shuffling the coals and adding wood. I gathered my ingredients then began cutting open the biggest squash, removing any bad bits. I then started scooping out the center, which becomes mainly seeds when they grow this big. By scooping out the seeded center, I'm left with a boat shape that I laid into a baking tray. Adding a bit of salt helps to absorb the water, which you can pat dry with a paper towel before you add your toppings. For my filling, I sliced up half an onion and smashed some garlic to begin frying. As soon as it hits the oil in the cast iron pot, it starts sizzling. I then added a pack of beef mince and mixed it in. Sprinkling a bit of Inner Parman's Brine Grilled Spice, which just adds a bit of sun-dried tomato, salt and garlic, which is a delicious flavor for the mince. Once the mince began turning brown, I added one can of tomato and onion mix, then a pot of cooked rice. For quantities, I made one small cup of rice beforehand, then mixed it into the tomato and mince sauce. I then scooped the mixture in to fill the zucchinis. I grated a bit of cheese onto the top before adding it into the pizza bra. You can of course use a normal oven and let the food bake for about 15-20 minutes, allowing the zucchini to soften and the top becomes a crispy crust. I plated a few spoons of the tomato rice mixture before adding the zucchini boats on top. You could fill the zucchinis with anything you'd find interesting. This is a dish that allows for so much creativity. It was such a tasty dish that we enjoyed while watching the sun illuminate the mountains surrounding us, beautiful shades of orange turning pink. For the next meal, I wanted to recreate something my best friend made growing up, with a bit of a different touch. Before I started, I collected a few cherry tomatoes that were a vibrant red in the garden, along with some herbs. I grabbed some sprigs of thyme and rosemary which fill the air with their scent. For this dinner dish, I'm making a creamy basil and zucchini pasta. I started preparing the zucchinis from our garden, cutting them into long thin slices, almost to replicate spaghetti pasta. The first ingredients to go in the pan is half an onion thinly sliced with some garlic cloves. Once this started to cook, I added thin slices of chicken breasts. When the chicken started to change colour, I added the zucchini slices I had, then the little baby tomatoes which added some colour. Next, I poured in a box of cream with a scoop of basil pesto. Once this was all mixed in, I added half a pack of cooked pasta and made sure to save some of the pasta water which makes the sauce a little bit more runny and then it was time to enjoy. It's incredible that planting one tiny seed packet provided us with all these meals and so many more. Eating meals that are full of fresh flavours, knowing the entire journey from seed to plate is incredibly rewarding. These meals are an ode to the garden, inspired by the seasons that nourish our bodies and fuel us to continue building our dream life on our farm in the mountains of South Africa. Please consider subscribing to our channel, it's free to do so and ensures our videos pop up next time. Also leave a comment to let us know your thoughts. We hope to see you next time.