Texas Locavore

Some people know summer squash all too well.  Those yellow crook-necked specimens must be the most-shared product of home gardens when they’re in-season, though they’re never as easy to give away as tomatoes and berries.  Zucchini is just another version of summer squash and its reputation has so soured over the years that it’s been left, in a Garrison Keillor story, at least, in a basinet at a neighbor’s door.  The truly resourceful even grate it and slip it into baked goods for spongy effect.  But the news is not all grim for summer squash.  Varieties such as the patty pan (pictured), known also as scalloppini and cymling, have a shape that lends itself to stuffing.  When harvested small and very tender-skinned, the oblong  varieties have a pleasing texture the giant specimens lack.  But believe it or not, Todd Duplechan looks for big ones when he shops at Boggy Creek Farm in Austin.  Duplechan is the chef de cuisine at Trio, the restaurant in the Four Seasons, and he likes to make them into a sort of pasta by shaving them into thin strips with a mandoline, then cooking them in boiling water and seasoning.  With 1,700 acres of squash growing in Texas — and thriving even in the summer’s hottest weeks — it’s worth getting creative when it comes to summer squash.