Summer Squash Gratin

This summer squash gratin with bacon elevates simple crookneck squash from fine to fabulous with a topping of Parmesan, breadcrumbs and pine nuts.

Crookneck yellow squash is one of the summer crops I most look forward to although, oddly, they’ve been turning up in my supermarket more often year round. I guess they are being shipping in from somewhere but I always think of them as a southern summer vegetable so I mostly wait for the appropriate season to buy. 

Like asparagus, it takes away from their specialness when they are available all the time! Ditto peaches, nectarines and watermelon. Those are never as sweet as the local summer ripened fruit. 

Summer Squash Gratin

You can substitute zucchini for the squash if you can’t get them. This is the perfect recipe for when there’s a zucchini glut!

Ingredients

3 1/2 oz or 100g smoked bacon

2.2 lbs or 1 kg crookneck squash

2 large cloves garlic, minced

3 1/2 oz or 100g freshly grated Parmesan (or gruyere)

1/2 cup or 70g fresh breadcrumbs 

1/3 cup or 35g pine nuts

Canola or other light oil for greasing the casserole dish

Method

Remove the ends of the squash and slice them into circles. 

Cut the bacon into small pieces and cook until crispy in a large skillet. Remove the bacon from the skillet with a slotted spoon, leaving behind the rendered fat.

Brown the squash in the bacon fat. Do this in batches so you don’t crowd the pan. We want some nice color on both sides.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and lightly grease a casserole dish with oil. 

Once the squash has browned, tip all batches back into the skillet with the garlic and crispy bacon. 

Cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Spoon the mixture into a casserole dish. 

In a mixing bowl, combine the cheese and breadcrumbs, then top the squash with them. 

Sprinkle on the pine nuts.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 40-45 minutes or until the gratin is well golden on top.

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing fresh garden harvest recipes. Many thanks to our host, Renu of Renu Cooks. Check out all the lovely recipes below.

• Cucumber Jalapeño Margarita from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Blender Salsa from Palatable Pastime
• Sweet and Spicy Rhubarb Chutney from Cook with Renu
• Caprese Skewers from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Fruit Salad with Rhubarb Syrup, Mint and Basil from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Baby Potatoes In Green Gravy With A Twist from Sneha’s Recipe
• Tomato, Garlic, and Basil Bruschetta from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Summer Squash Gratin from Food Lust People Love

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Passion Orange Guava Bundt Cake #BundtBakers

This Passion Orange Guava Bundt Cake is baked with the reduced juice of all three fruits for a tender, tropical cake with a delicate sponge. The glaze is optional but I highly recommend adding it for extra flavor and prettiness.

This month our Bundt Bakers' host chose a prior event as our theme and asked that we recreate one of the Bundt cakes from June 2014. It was the first year of the Bundt Bakers group which we started in January after the prior group called Bundt-a-Month disbanded.

I was immediately attracted to the passion orange guava Bundt cake baked by my friend, Felice, from All That’s Left are the Crumbs. Felice and I have been baking/blogging friends for many, many years and I know that her cakes are always delicious. 

So I duly added my choice to our list and forgot all about it for a while. When it came time to bake the cake, I started searching for the juice Felice had used. It’s apparently a common combination in Hawaii where, according to Felice, it’s known as POG and Hawaiian Airlines even serve it as a welcome drink when you fly between the islands. 

Well, I’m here to tell you that I don’t think it’s being exported from Hawaii anymore. I came across lots of instances on the internet where people were asking where to get POG now. My search led me to various websites that Google told me mentioned it, but they were all out of stock. 

So I had to make my own. 

As I mentioned on my creamy avocado yogurt dip post, I brought this cake to a friend’s house for dessert, so please excuse the terrible lighting on the cut cake photo. 

Passion Orange Guava Bundt Cake

If you cannot get POG - passion orange guava juice - where you live, use 2/3 cup or 156ml of each juice to make the combo. This is probably going to leave you with three containers of juice to finish off but no worries because you can just mix them all together and pretend you are flying between the Hawaiian islands. Add some rum. I won’t tell. 

This recipe is adapted from All That’s Left are the Crumbs. Felice adapted hers from Cake Simple by Christie Matheson.

Ingredients

For the cake:

2 cups or 480ml passion-orange-guava juice (or see note above for sub amounts)

1 cup or 227g butter, at room temperature, plus extra for the Bundt pan

1 cup or 200g granulated sugar

1/2 cup, packed, or 100g light brown sugar

2 1/4 cups or 280g all-purpose flour, plus extra for the Bundt pan

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

3 eggs, at room temperature

1/2 cup or 120ml milk

For the glaze:

1 cup or 125g powdered sugar

3-4 teaspoons passion-orange-guava juice

Method

Pour the passion-orange-guava juice in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.  Lower heat and continue to cook until reduced to about half a cup. This thickens and darkens a bit as it cooks down.

Preheat the oven to 325°F and prepare your 10-cup Bundt pan by coating it generously with butter then flour. 

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl until thoroughly combined.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the butter with the two sugars medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until light and fluffy.  Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula and add the first egg. 

Add next two eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until incorporated. 

Beat in the reduced passion-orange-guava juice. 

With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture (in two increments) alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour and beating just until combined. 

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top and bake for about one hour, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Let the cake cool for about 15 minutes, then invert on to a cake rack and let it cool completely.

To make the glaze, mix 3 teaspoons juice with the powdered sugar. Add the last teaspoon of juice, if necessary, to get pouring consistency. 

When the cake is cool, drizzle or pour on the glaze.

Enjoy! 

Check out all the tropical Bundts my Bundt Bakers are sharing today. Many thanks to our host, Patricia of Patyco Candybar and to Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm for her behind-the-scenes assistance.

• Patyco Candybar: Guava and Pineapple Impossible Cake 
• Food Lust People Love: Passion Orange Guava Bundt Cake 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Pineapple Lime Mini Bundts 
• All That’s Left Are The Crumbs: Pineapple Pound Cake 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Pineapple Pound Bundt Cake

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

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Creamy Avocado Yogurt Dip

This easy creamy avocado yogurt dip is both mellow and tart, with a hit of spice from the jalapeño and garlic. It’s perfect with veggies or chips!

The other night we were invited to a get-together of my oldest friends, by which I mean, to clarify, the group of friends I’ve been friends with the longest. We are all about the same age. Many of us have been friends since we were nine years old, others joined the gang later and some met even earlier in first grade. 

I wanted to contribute to the evening’s festivities so I made this dip and also baked a tropical Bundt cake. (Stay tuned for that recipe this Thursday.)

As we usually do, we told stories on each other and laughed so hard! It was one of the best nights we’ve enjoyed in a VERY long time. To my delight, this dip was a hit! I have to agree. It is GOOD. And so easy!

Creamy Avocado Yogurt Dip

This dip can be made earlier in the day you want to serve it but do cover the surface snugly with cling film so air can’t touch the top and refrigerate, if not serving immediately. I have no idea if that old wives' tale is true but I also saved the avocado pits and tucked them in there too.

Ingredients

1/2 cup or 122g Greek yogurt

2 fresh, just ripe avocados 

1 clove garlic

1 small fresh jalapeño

small bunch cilantro (see photo for guide, let's not get too hung up on size/weight here)

1 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Juice from half a lime (about 1 1/2 tablespoons)

Method

Smash and mince the garlic. Remove the stem and finely chop the jalapeño. You can remove the seeds if you don’t like things too spicy. I leave mine in. Remove the tough stems and roughly chop your cilantro.

Into the vessel of your food processor, add the yogurt.  Cut the avocados in half and remove the pits. Use a spoon to scoop the avocados into the food processor.

Add in the garlic, jalapeño, cilantro, cumin, salt and lime juice.

Whiz until smooth.

Enjoy with crudités or chips. We NEEDED potato chips that night. Don't judge. It's NOT guacamole, but this would also be good with tortilla chips. I bought black pepper and salt chips and they were awesome. 

It's Sunday FunDay and our theme/ingredient of the day is yogurt. Check out all the recipe links below. Many thanks to our host, Sue of Palatable Pastime.

• Greek Yogurt Marinated Chicken Thighs by Amy’s Cooking Adventures
• Dahi Kachumber (with Yogurt) by Palatable Pastime
• 2 Ingredients Mango Yogurt Smoothie by Cook with Renu
• Gola Bhaat With Kadhi - Varhadi Thali by Sneha’s Recipe
• Lemon Yogurt Cake, Eggless by Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Creamy Avocado Yogurt Dip by Food Lust People Love
• Strawberries with Minted Yogurt by A Day in the Life on the Farm

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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