Ingredients
- 8 pattypan squashes, yellow or green or a combination, each 4 inches across
- About 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more for sprinkling
- 1 white onion, finely chopped (about 3/4 cup)
- 4 large cloves garlic, minced
- 1-1/4 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
- 8 large or 16 small eggs, at room temperature
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut off the top (stem end) of each squash and reserve. Using a small spoon, scoop out and discard the flesh (or reserve for another use) from each squash, leaving a shell at least 1/4 inch thick. Brush the squashes and their tops all over with about 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, and set, cut side up for squashes and stem side up for tops, on a rimmed baking sheet.
- Bake squashes until tender when pierced with a sharp knife, 20 to 30 minutes. The tops will cook more quickly, so check them after 15 minutes and remove them when they are done. When the shells are ready, remove from the oven and sprinkle the insides of the shells and the tops with salt. Set the tops aside; leave the shells on the baking sheet.
- While the squash shells are baking, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. add the onion and the 3/4 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is very soft and starting to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the thyme and stir until combined. Keep hot.
- Divide the hot onion mixture among the squash shells, spreading it over the bottom and up the sides to form a thin coating. Crack 1 large egg or 2 small eggs into each squash and drizzle with a little more oil. Cover the baking sheet with aluminum foil and bake until the egg whites are firm but the yolks are still loose, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Sprinkle each egg with a pinch of salt and serve immediately, with the squash tops replaced or set to the side.
You may bake the squash cups up to 4 hours ahead, cover, and keep at room temperature. Rewarm the cups in the oven before adding the onion mixture and the eggs.
PER SQUASH: 165 calories, 48% (80 cal.) from fat; 10g protein; 8.9g fat (2.1g sat.); 14g carbohydrates (3.9g fiber); 366mg sodium; 212mg cholesterol.
More from The One-Block Feast:
• Deviled Cucumber Cups Recipe
Reprinted with permission from The One-Block Feast: An Adventure in Food from Yard to Table by Margo True and the Sunset magazine staff and published by Ten Speed Press, 2011. Buy this book from our store: The One-Block Feast.
When the staff of Sunset magazine decided to try their hands at creating four feasts over the course of a year, using only what they could grow or raise in their backyard-sized plot, they had no idea how big the project would grow. “The One-Block Feast” (Ten Speed Press, 2011) is a recipe book, a gardening and do-it-yourself guide and a chronicle of the adventures the staff had while creating their locavore paradise. The following baked squash recipe is from the “Summer Recipes” section.
You can purchase this book from the GRIT store: The One-Block Feast.
Harvest or buy the pattypan squashes when they are 4 inches across. We found that this was the perfect size for holding a single large egg. Since our chickens had just started laying, their eggs tended to be small, so some of our squashes held two eggs. (If the egg won’t quite fit, scoop out a little of the white with a spoon.)