July/August 207
Best
Cook:
Recipes
from the Garden
Kin
Shilling's recipes for summer squashes
By
Edie Clark
On any given day, the aromas of baking sweets and simmering
soup seep out her kitchen door, past the henhouse, and up into the rare air of
Kin Schilling is known to her friends as smart, generous,
artistic, and innovative -- but most of all, as a great cook. The
Her children were growing up fast by then. "I had
always been a stay-at-home mom and I felt like it was time for me to do
something," she says as she nudges freshly baked muffins out of their
cups. As if she had been saving it up all those years, she began this new life
as an entrepreneur. "I have no fear," she says. "I do everything
on a shoestring. I've always said, 'If you have an idea, do it!'"
She started with women's clothing, but moved soon to her
first love: food. A bookstore cafe, a lunch wagon out of the back of her
Volkswagen, an ice-cream parlor that, as a novel aside, also sold French
antiques. In between these ventures, she just plain cooked for people -- for
her friends, for an arts colony, for the local school.
And then she started to cook for handicapped children at
She did once spend a couple of weeks working at a local
restaurant. She backed away as if from a hot iron. "I'm not a professional
cook. I never have been. I'm an intuitive cook. I think about what I want to
make, and out of that comes something good."
That's where the zucchini muffins came from -- something
she dreamed up that became a favorite during the two years she ran that
bookstore cafe. And they've been part of her repertoire ever since. That's how
she does it. No fear.
Zucchini Muffins
Yield: 12 large muffins or 2 loaves
This recipe works well as zucchini bread, too.
2-1/2 cups
plus
3 Tablespoons flour
1 cup unsweetened
coconut
2 teaspoons ground
cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground
nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking
powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon kosher or sea salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup canola
oil
2 tablespoons unsalted
butter
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
extract
2-1/2 cups grated zucchini (about
1-1/2 medium zucchini)
½ cup grated carrots (about 1
carrot)
About
a dozen whole or 1/4 cup chopped pecans
Heat oven to 375°.
In a large bowl, gently combine flour, coconut, spices,
baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl or standing mixer,
cream together sugar, oil, and butter until light and fluffy.
Add eggs and vanilla extract, and beat until well combined.
Add flour mixture and stir just until combined -- do not overmix.
Fold in zucchini and carrots. Fill two large, well-greased
muffin tins (or two loaf pans) three-quarters full and top with pecans.
Bake 25 minutes (35 to 40 minutes for bread); cool on wire racks.
Summer Squash Soup
Yield: 6 servings
Perfect for a midsummer luncheon on the porch. Serve
with a mesclun salad with lemon and olive oil
dressing and a hearty baguette.
4 tablespoons unsalted
butter
1 large onion,
thinly sliced
2 pounds summer
squash, sliced
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon dry
mustard
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground
cloves
1 teaspoon ground
cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons fresh
ginger, peeled and minced
3 cups water
or homemade vegetable or chicken stock, divided
3/4 cup light cream
Kosher
or sea salt
Garnish: whole cilantro leaves and orange
nasturtium blossoms
In a large pot over medium heat, melt butter and cook onion
and squash until softened and translucent -- about 10 minutes. In a separate
bowl, mix dry ingredients plus fresh ginger. Add to onion-squash mixture. Add 1
cup water or stock and cook about 5 minutes. Add remaining liquid and bring to
a boil. Lower heat and simmer about 15 minutes.
Remove from heat and puree until smooth. Stir in cream and
season to taste with salt. If soup is too thick for your taste, thin with
additional cream or stock. Ladle into six soup bowls
and garnish with cilantro leaves and flowers.
© 2007
Yankee
Publishing Inc.
(603)
563-8111