Southern Simmered Squash showcases the fresh flavor of squash in its purest form, simply seasoned with salt and pepper and a touch of sugar to round out the flavor.

Because the squash contains so much liquid, it simmers in its own juices. At the beginning of cooking, you may be tempted to add more water. If you do, the finished dish will be watery. Use only enough to film the bottom of the saucepan and keep the squash from sticking; stir frequently at first. Don’t worry, the squash will exude enough liquid as it cooks.

Southern simmered squash

1 tablespoon mild-flavored olive oil or vegetable oil

1/2 large sweet onion, chopped

3 medium or 6 small yellow squash, chopped

3 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon sugar

Salt and coarsely ground black pepper to taste

1 tablespoon butter

In a medium or large saucepan, heat the oil over medium-low heat. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions have softened but not browned, about 10 minutes. Add the squash, water, sugar, salt and pepper; stir, and raise heat to medium high until the film of water in the bottom of the pan just begins to bubble. Immediately turn heat to low, cover pan and simmer, stirring frequently during the first several minutes of cooking, until squash can be easily pierced with a fork, 15 to 25 minutes. The cooking time will vary depending on the maturity of the squash.

Remove pan from heat and add butter. If you prefer a smoother texture, you can mash the squash with a large fork or a potato masher into a loose, chunky puree. Taste and add more salt and pepper, if necessary. Serves 6 (or 4, if you want leftovers for Summer Squash Gratin With Green Chiles)

¢ This is a wonderful use for leftover Southern Simmered Squash, but you can make the gratin from scratch by chopping a medium-size yellow squash or zucchini and about a quarter of a sweet onion, seasoning to taste with salt and pepper, sauteing, simmering or microwaving the squash and onion until soft and mashing them together briefly with a fork or potato masher.

Should you have been ambitious enough to make biscuits to eat with your Southern Simmered Squash and by some miracle have a couple left over, they make a fine gratin topping, crumbled. Otherwise, use good-quality sourdough or other non-Wonder-type bread, left on the counter for an hour or so to dry out or toasted briefly, then whirled into coarse crumbs in a blender or food processor.

Summer squash gratin with hatch green chiles

3/4 cup milk

4 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, grated

1 egg yolk, beaten (discard white or save for another use)

1 cup Southern Simmered Squash

2 large roasted Hatch green chiles, charred skin and seeds removed, finely chopped

2 slices stale sourdough or other country bread, or 2 biscuits, processed or crumbled into coarse crumbs

1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On stovetop, in a small saucepan, heat milk over low heat; add cheddar and continue to heat, stirring frequently, until cheese is melted. Remove from heat and allow to cool briefly, stirring to facilitate cooling (you don’t want the milk mixture to be so hot it will cook the egg yolk). Whisk in egg yolk. Stir in squash and chopped chiles.

Pour mixture into a small gratin dish or other shallow ovenproof dish (dimensions vary; try an 8 1/4-by-5 1/2-inch oval gratin about 1 3/4 inches deep). Top with an even layer of bread crumbs and dot topping with butter. Bake about 30 minutes, until topping is golden-brown and gratin is bubbling. (If top isn’t browned to your liking, raise heat to 375 degrees for the last few minutes of cooking.) Serves four.

¢ Stuffed vegetables always seem festive, and they’re especially colorful if you use both zucchini and yellow squash. Though they require more effort than, say, sauteing chicken breasts, they are a one-dish meal comprising vegetable, meat and bread and requiring only a salad on the side to make dinner. And they can be assembled ahead of time and refrigerated; simply extend the baking time 10 or 15 minutes if you’re baking them right out of the fridge.

The recipe here is really only a template; the filling is infinitely variable. You might, for example, add lightly toasted chopped pecans, almonds or pine nuts. You could use Romano or Gruyere instead of Parmesan cheese. You could make the filling vegetarian by using chopped portobello or cremini mushrooms instead of ground beef and leaving out the bacon, sauteing the onion in a tablespoon of olive oil with a couple of teaspoons of smoked paprika instead.

Look for ground beef that is fairly lean; otherwise, your filling will be too oily. And this is one dish where you can make use of larger squash.

Stuffed summer squash boats

2 slices bacon, finely chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

4 medium to medium-large summer squash

2 large cloves garlic, minced or put through a garlic press

1 pound ground beef

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

1 large roasted red pepper from a jar, chopped

4 slices stale or briefly toasted country bread, processed into medium crumbs

1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

3 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the chopped bacon, stirring and cooking to release fat. Reduce heat to medium-low, add the chopped onion and cook 10 to 15 minutes, until onions are quite soft but not brown, stirring occasionally (if bacon is unusually lean and does not release enough fat, add a bit of olive or vegetable oil).

Meanwhile, make squash “boats” by cutting the squash in half horizontally; with a sharp-edged spoon, scoop the flesh from the squash; set the squash shells aside and chop the flesh; set aside.

Add the garlic to the pan with the onions and cook briefly, stirring; raise heat to medium and add the ground beef, breaking it up with your hands as you add it to the pan. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir and cook until beef is no longer red. Add chopped squash, stirring, and cook about 5 minutes; then stir in tomatoes and roasted red pepper. Remove from heat and stir in the bread crumbs, grated cheese and herbs. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place squash “boats” on a heavy rimmed baking sheet or in an ovenproof pan large enough to hold them; if any of the squashes roll, you can shave a small slice from the bottom to create a flat surface for them to sit on. Divide filling among the squash shells and bake for 30 minutes if you prefer firmer shells or longer for softer shells. Filling should be nicely browned. Serves eight.

¢ This luxurious soup, created by the cooks at the community-supported Angelic Organics farm in Illinois, is almost magical – no cooking at all, just a whirl in the processor. (If you don’t have a food processor, you could make the soup by pureeing the chopped veggies along with the yogurt in batches in a blender.) It would make an elegant – and very contemporary – appetizer for a hot-season dinner party.

“Freshly ground whole coriander seeds give this soup a slightly exotic citrus aroma,” writes John Peterson in his new “Farmer John’s Cookbook.” “You can crush the seeds in a mortar and pestle or use the back of a sturdy spoon to grind them into the bottom of a shallow bowl.”

The soup would probably serve 4 as a lunch or supper main dish and 8 as an appetizer.

Chilled zucchini and avocado soup

4 small or 2 medium zucchini, coarsely chopped

2 avocados, peel and pits discarded, coarsely chopped

3 medium scallions, coarsely chopped

2 cloves garlic, peeled, halved

1/2 teaspoon chile powder

1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds, coarsely crushed

1 cup plain yogurt

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Put the zucchini, avocado, scallions, garlic, chile powder and coriander seeds into a food processor; process until smoothly combined.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl; stir in the yogurt. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Season with salt and pepper to taste; garnish with cilantro. Serves four to eight.

–“Farmer John’s Cookbook” by John Peterson