Squash is a vegetable belonging to the pumpkin family. It is also called "dish-shaped pumpkin". Many original blanks can be prepared from fruits that are unusual in their shape.
Patisson is a low-calorie, but very useful product. Its energy value is only 19 Kcal per 100 g. To the taste, squash resembles a little zucchini, but their flesh is much denser. Canned squash is a great snack. They can also be served as an addition to potatoes and meat dishes.
Pickled squash
One of the most popular and successful preparations from "dish-shaped pumpkin" is marinated squash. To prepare them you will need:
- 1 kg of young squash;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- 1 liter of water;
- bay leaf;
- 1 tbsp. l granulated sugar;
- 2 tbsp. l coarse salt (preferably not iodized);
- 4 tbsp. l table vinegar (9%);
- 8 black peppercorns;
- 2 sprigs of dill (without umbrellas) and parsley.
Cooking steps:
- Rinse small squash, cut off the stalk of each fruit, while capturing about 1-2 cm of edible pulp. You do not need to peel the squash from the peel. Peeled fruits in blanks do not look very attractive. The skin of small squash is quite tender. For blanks, it is much better to use young squash, the diameter of which does not exceed 5-6 cm. Their pulp is more juicy and such fruits can be pickled whole, as they easily pass through the neck of the jar.
- Pour water into a saucepan, and then put it on fire. Put the prepared squash in boiling water and boil for 5 minutes, then lower it into a saucepan with cold water. You should not neglect this stage, since the squash without boiling and subsequent cooling may not turn out crispy enough.
- Arrange the boiled squash in the jars, add the cloves of garlic. They must first be cleaned and cut into several pieces. Put parsley and dill in each jar.
- Pour water into a saucepan, add salt, sugar, pepper, bring to a boil. Add vinegar after turning off the stove.
- Put a towel on the bottom of a wide saucepan, pour water, put filled jars, pour boiling marinade and cover with lids. The water should be up to about 2/3 of the height of the jars.
- Sterilize the workpiece for 10 minutes, then carefully screw on the lids. Put the jars on a flat surface, turning them over with the lids down. Wrap the blanks and, after cooling, put them in a cool place.
Squash caviar with parsley root and celery
To prepare unusually tasty caviar according to the classic recipe, you will need:
- 2 kg of squash (even large ones);
- 4 onions;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- 2 large carrots;
- 1 parsley root;
- 1 celery root;
- 400 g of tomatoes (preferably very ripe and fleshy);
- 2 tablespoons salt;
- 1 tbsp sugar;
- 70 ml of table vinegar (9%).
Cooking steps:
- Wash the squash, cut off the stalks and rind from each fruit. Cut the squash into small cubes and fry in vegetable oil in a cauldron or thick-walled saucepan.
- Peel the onions and carrots. Chop vegetables finely and sauté in a separate skillet to soften. Cut the tomatoes with a sharp knife in the area of the stalk, then scald with boiling water and remove the skin. Cut the tomatoes into cubes.
- Put fried onions and carrots, as well as tomato cubes to the squash.
- Peel the parsley and celery roots with a vegetable peeler and chop finely. Add the chopped roots to the cauldron, and squeeze the garlic cloves into it through a press.
- Add water to the cauldron. Simmer all vegetables for about 20 minutes. Add salt and sugar. Purée the vegetable mixture with a hand blender. When the puree becomes almost homogeneous, add vinegar to the cauldron and boil the squash caviar for another 5 minutes.
- Pour the caviar into sterile jars and roll up with sterile lids, then put the jars on a wooden surface or blanket with the lids down, wrap them up. After cooling, remove the caviar in a cool place.
Squash in tomato filling
A tasty and simple homemade preparation for the winter can be prepared by marinating the squash in tomato sauce. This will require:
- 1 kg of squash (even large ones);
- 1 kg of tomatoes (better ripe and fleshy);
- 4 cloves of garlic;
- Bulgarian pepper;
- 1 tbsp. l rock salt (not iodized);
- 3 tbsp. l sugar;
- 1 liter of water;
- half a teaspoon of ground red pepper;
- 3 peas each, black peppercorns and allspice;
- 70 ml vinegar 9%;
- 70 ml of vegetable oil.
Cooking steps:
- Rinse the squash, remove the stalks and cut each fruit into several parts. This recipe even allows for overripe, large vegetables.
- Scald the tomatoes with boiling water, after making cuts in the area of the stalk. This is to make it easier to remove the skin. Peel the pepper by removing the inside with the seeds. Peel the garlic cloves. Pass the peeled tomatoes, pepper, garlic through a meat grinder. You can grind them with a blender, but in this case the consistency of the vegetable puree will not work out uniform.
- Pour the vegetable mass into a saucepan, add peppercorns, ground pepper, vegetable oil. Boil and add vinegar before turning off the stove.
- Arrange the squash in jars. Put the jars in a water bath, pour over the boiling tomato mass, cover with lids and sterilize for 15 minutes.
- Close the jars with lids, then put them on a flat surface and wrap them up. Put the cooled blanks in a cool place.
Salted squash
To save the squash for the winter, they can be salted. This will require:
- 2 kg of squash (small and dense);
- 7 cloves of garlic;
- a bunch of dill;
- 3-5 currant leaves;
- 2 horseradish leaves (better than young ones);
- water (about 1.5 l);
- salt (at the rate of 3 tablespoons per three-liter jar).
Cooking steps:
- Rinse the squash very well, cut off the stalks. If the fruits are large, cut them into several pieces.
- Put dill, currant leaves, horseradish leaves, peeled garlic cloves in sterile jars. Put the squash in jars as tightly as possible.
- Add salt to each jar. A three-liter container will require 2-3 tablespoons of salt, depending on taste.
- Fill the jars with cold water (preferably boiled) and cover with lids. Leave on for 3 days. During this time, all fermentation processes will take place.
- Drain the brine from the jars into a saucepan, then bring to a boil and pour the hot brine into the jars. After 5 minutes, pour the brine back into the pan, add a little water (some of the water boils away when boiling), bring to a boil and pour the jars. Repeat this procedure 2 more times, then close the blanks with sterile lids and wrap them up.
Store salted squash prepared without sterilization in a cool place.
Pickled squash with aromatic herbs and horseradish
With the addition of aromatic herbs and horseradish, the preparation from the squash acquires an interesting taste. To prepare it you will need:
- 1 kg of squash (preferably small and yellow);
- 2 horseradish roots;
- 2 tbsp. l rock salt (not necessarily iodized);
- 3 tbsp. l sugar;
- 6 leaves of lemon balm or mint (you can also use thyme);
- 4 peas of black and allspice;
- 80 ml vinegar 9%.
Cooking steps:
- Wash the squash thoroughly, carefully cut the stalks. For this recipe, young fruits, yellow or white, are ideal. Boil the squash for 5 minutes in water, and then cool.
- Arrange the squash in jars. Clean the horseradish roots very thoroughly. Cut them into small pieces and put them in a glass container for squash. Add leaves of aromatic herbs, peppercorns to each jar.
- Pour water (about 1.5 l) into a saucepan, add salt and sugar, bring to a boil. Pour vinegar into the solution before turning off the stove.
- Put a towel on the bottom of the pan, and then pour water, put the filled jars, pour boiling marinade and cover with lids. The water should be up to about 2/3 of the height of the jars.
- Sterilize the workpieces for 10-15 minutes. The sterilization time depends on the volume of the cans. For three-liter cans, the optimal cooking time is 15 minutes. Screw the blanks with lids and wrap them until they cool completely, turning the jars upside down.
Marinated squash with horseradish and mint, lemon balm can be served as an appetizing snack. They go well with mashed potatoes and other main courses.
