gluten-free eats

Summer squash casserole (traditionally done with yellow crookneck squash) is also my favorite way to use up zucchini or any of those close relatives.

~4 cups sliced zucchini (or summer squash or mixture, whatever you have plenty of)
1 medium onion, diced
1 egg, lightly beaten (optional, can omit)
1/4 cup mayonnaise (can substitute veganaise or home-made mayonaise for ingredient control)
1/3 cup sour cream (or light sour cream, or blendered cottage cheese, or plain yogurt, regular or Greek-style)
1/4 cup milk (optional, can omit esp. w/runnier yogurt)
1 heaping cup shredded cheddar cheese (or more)
2 tablespoons butter or oil, melted
salt, pepper, herbs/spices to taste (I like parsley & dill)
~1/2 to 1 cup crushed GF buttery golden crackers, or cornflakes/puffed rice/Chex, or seasoned GF breadcrumbs (optional, can omit)


Preheat oven to 350F / medium (precision not necessary) and lightly grease a casserole dish. Steam (5-7 min) or parboil ( ~ 2 min) squash and onion until just tender; drain. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients except the crumb topping and butter (if not using crumb topping, reserve half the cheese for topping instead, mix everything else). Spread in casserole pan, scatter crumb topping on and drizzle with butter, bake until golden on top and bubbly around the edges, about 1/2 hour.

For people who can't have dairy but are fine with eggs/fat, I can attest that substituting additional mayonnaise and/or an extra beaten egg for the sour cream/yogurt works fine, as does--for people who are okay with dairy but not egg-- omitting the egg and substituting more dairy (and some extra oil/butter-- the right amount of fat is essential to good taste, don't substitute all nonfat stuff) for the mayonnaise. It'd probably work okay with vegan substitutes for the dairy and cheese, but I haven't tried that.