Entry level cooking question

[Texas Star]

And I mean "entry" level; not "entrée" level...

I mostly eat from cans. I want to get more fresh food in me. I cook broccoli, and I can slice and boil potatoes.

I want to try squash. Specifically, I bought several zucchini squash. Can I just wash them off, slice them into circular pieces, and then boil them? Pour off the water when they're about done and add a can of tomato sauce? Heat, stir, and serve?

I know we have many fine cooks here. Please don't laugh or sneer. I'm trying to enhance my diet without a lot of work. And I don't have time for a lot of cooking. But I think this plan might work okay?

Can the squash slices be served raw in a salad? I think I've had that in restaurants. Could I just slice the raw squash and pour Italian dressing on it and eat? Do I need to wash off the squash with anything but water, to get rid of germs, pesticides, etc.? It is okay to eat the raw rind?

Thanks. This is probably the idiot question of the day, but I need to be sure.

 

[tops]

We never peel squash. Wash with water and cut up. Raw squash, broccoli, cauliflower and carrots are good with salad dressing. We stew squash, corn and onions together. Instead of a stew they are also good fried with grease but probably not healthy but at my age I don't worry about healthy. Larry

 

[raisedin99]

I know we have many fine cooks here. Please don't laugh or sneer.

I cannot imagine there is anyone here on this forum that would laugh or sneer when you ask a legitimate question.

terry

 

[ATF]

The best way to cook squash, pumpkin, carrots and other "hard vegetables" is to oven roast them with just some salt and butter. Boiling destroys the flavor, roasting unleashes their sugars.

 

[Maddog 521]

Bread it with cornmeal and fry it. You can also dip it in olive oil and roast it on the grill. Zucchini bread is good.

 

[islamoradamark]

oven roasting is great i add alittle olive oil to it and keeping skin on is good for you they say it has alot more vitamins in it that way and instead of boiling try steaming

 

[Jessie]

Another way is pan fried with bacon and a little onion. No breading.
It's actually more sautéed than fried. Do the bacon first, drain most of the grease, then crumble the bacon and throw everything together back in the pan and cover on low for about 30-45min.
Oh yeah, salt, pepper and some nutmeg goes in too.

 

[mstem]

Slice the squash 1/4" thick, brush on some canola oil, a little salt but never pepper because it will burn on a grill & cook on grill. When there is a slight char flip & cook the other side until there is a slight char. They will look a little burnt but they taste great!!! This will work with yellow summer squash also. You can grill onions, green peppers the same way.

 

[Tony twist]

I like to pan fry mine with olive oil.

 

[boatme99]

Boiling squash will just give you a mushy, unappetizing mess. First, a couple of general definitions.

Sauteing: in a pan on top of the stove.
Roasting: in a pan or sheet in the oven.

Oven roasting summer squash is easy.

Pre heat oven to 450°
Slice into rounds or cut into chunks, put in large bowl, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic salt.
Drizzle a little olive or vegetable oil over all and stir up.
Spread out on baking sheet in a single layer.

Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, stirring once (flipping, if sliced) about halfway through.

The squash should be tender, but not mushy.

This is about as basic and easy as you can get.
You can cook most vegetables and potatoes like this varying the spices to what you like.

When oven roasting, you can add black pepper before cooking because it is cooking slower and the juices don't evaporate as quickly as they do when grilling. Although, I tend to use white pepper powder for most cooking. It won't burn and has a spicier flavor.

Bon appetite.

 

[boatme99]

If you think you want to do more cooking for yourself, I would suggest getting "The Joy of Cooking" by Irma Rombauer.

It's a good, basic cookbook that teaches everything you'll need to cook about anything.

It comes in 2 volumes. Vol. 1 is cooking, Vol.2 is baking.

You can get it in paperback at any book store or used bookstore.

 

[ordy]

We steam most of our veggies. Quick and easy to do without breaking them down into a mushy mess. Get a good basic cookbook as boatme suggested. Eating out of a can will keep you alive but if you learn to cook a few basic things, the food will taste a lot better and be more nutritious.

 

[loeman]

You got lots of good advice on a good question. Zucchini is great but as stated above you can turn it to much quite quickly. I love fresh sliced zucchini in salads. I also like it sliced into sticks with a little salt for snacks. I used to make a dish called "Joe Goodman's Squash" which used sour cream. It was great! I'll have to resurrect that recipe.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Slice it thin and then smother it on the stove with onion. Simple and slap yo mama good!

 

[RobertJ.]

Slice it 1/4" thick, then saute with thin strips (julienned) red bell pepper and white onion in olive oil, a sweet white wine (such as chardonnay), and a little chopped garlic. Cook it most of the way done in the olive oil, then add the wine and garlic at the very end.

I'm not a big veggie fan, but I'll eat this!

 

[Cooter Brown]

The best way to cook squash, pumpkin, carrots and other "hard vegetables" is to oven roast them with just some salt and butter. Boiling destroys the flavor, roasting unleashes their sugars.

This is perfect. It is easy and also preserves the nutrients, vitamins etc. that you'd end up pouring out with the water if you boil them. Get whatever looks good at the store and cut into 1-2" cubes, 450 degree oven for 30 minutes. Pumpkin, squash, radishes, carrots, potatoes, most anything like that. I usually use olive oil and salt.

Get regular olive oil for this--save the more expensive extra virgin stuff for the simple salad you'll eat with the veggies.

As far as a meat, get something on sale--either braise, roast or cook it on the stovetop depending on the cut. I get lambchops on sale for a lot less than you can buy beef and saute them in a pan, or cut up cheaper cuts of beef and braise with vegetables, onions etc. Chicken, fish, whatever is on sale.

Once you've done this a couple of times you'll find you can get all this done in not much more time than it takes to open a few cans.

A simple quick meal--get some frozen chopped broccoli. Put some pasta (spagetti or fettuccinni) on to boil. Put broc on a plate and microwave for a couple of minutes. If you use fresh broc parboil it. At the same time put a pan on the stove and preheat--get it really hot. I turn my gas stove all the way up. While the broc is in the MW and the pan is heating up crush and mince three cloves of garlic. When the pan is smoking hot put some oil in it (I use canola oil--olive oil is not good for high temp cooking) and then the broc. BROWN the broccoli. I mean really brown it. When you smell it as it browns you'll know why. It gets a nutty flavor. Toss as it cooks.

When the broc is well browned, add the garlic and turn the heat down. Keep tossing. After about 30-60 seconds, add a couple or more tablespoons of red vinegar or better yet lemon juice. Don't measure, just put it in. Then add the cooked pasta to the pan and toss.

Plate it up, drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil on it and put some grated parm on it. This is something they eat in Italy a lot, particularly on Fridays. It's also a very cheap meal.

The whole process shouldn't take longer than it takes to boil the pasta.

You can use the broc base and add almost anything to it--leftover steak, chicken, bacon, sausage, peppers, carrots, most any vegetable diced up--even tomatoes (!). I made some this week with leftover barbeque thrown in. Just add anything extra after the broc is browned and before you add the pasta. But it's terrific with just the broc, garlic and vinegar/lemon.

Great scot, man, life is too short to eat out of cans.

 

[Jessie]

What I do is jump on the net and type in whatever I want to cook and there will be at least a couple of dozen recipes pop up.
It's the easiest way to find either a new way to cook something or the easiest and quickest way, whatever you're looking to do.

 

[3dots]

Tex,

You can do squash and most any veggie a millions ways. Raw is good too for most veggies and I eat lots of it. I should really buy Ranch Style dressing by the 5 gallon bucket the way we go through it .

 

[BearBio]

I have found that a good herbs to add are Mexican oregano (different taste from Italian oregano) and Rosemary. I have both in my garden and use them fresh (also fresh basil).

Coarse ground black pepper and sea salt. (You can get grinders for both at Walmart, Costco, etc.)

Using fresh spices in your cooking will completely change your outlook as well as the results.

Try it; you'll like it!

 

[arjay]

Boiling really kills the flavor of most veggies,raw is good.Zucchini sliced thin,breaded and pan fried with mushrooms and onions,add some Italian sausage and homemade tomato sauce-the bomb.