Garlic-Herb Fried Patty Pan Squash -- The Anchor That Holds

The week after publication. The reviews are arriving. The Oregonian: "a meditation on duality and dinner." Bon Appétit online: "Nakamura does it again." A literary journal: "If the first book was a love letter to a grandmother, the second is a love letter to the space between." The space between. The reviewers see it. The reviewers name it. The naming is the book's success: the making-visible of the invisible space, the space that mixed-race people live in, the space that cooks inhabit when they combine traditions, the space that is neither and both, the space that is the country with a population of: everyone who has ever felt like they belonged to two things and neither thing completely.

I made kabocha nimono — the fall ritual, the September return — and the making was the grounding after the publication-day flight, the return to the stove after the podium, the practice after the performance. The nimono was: the nimono. The same nimono. Twelve years of the same nimono. The sameness is the anchor. The anchor holds while the rest of the life — the book, the tour, the reviews, the newsletter — swirls and surges. The anchor is the kabocha. The kabocha is the practice. There is the word again.

The book tour begins next week: San Francisco, then Los Angeles, then New York. The cities are the farthest I have been from my kitchen since I started the practice, and the farthest-from-the-kitchen is the anxiety's opportunity, the anxiety saying: what if you can't make miso soup on the road? What if the practice breaks? The anxiety is wrong. The practice does not require my kitchen. The practice requires a pot and kombu and bonito and miso and a bowl. The practice is portable. The practice travels. The practice is the thing I carry. The thing I carry is the practice.

Miya made miso soup for me before I left for the airport — her soup, from her dashi, in her blue bowl, offered to me the way I offer it to Ken: the food as love, the love as food, the daughter feeding the mother, the reversal that is not reversal but completion, the circle that is the chain that is the practice that is the life.

The kabocha was the anchor — it always is — but when I reached for what to share here, I wanted something that carried that same spirit of squash-as-practice without requiring the specific ingredients I had at home before the airport, before San Francisco, before the swirl. Patty pan squash in a hot pan with garlic and herbs is the same logic: the squash, the heat, the smell that says kitchen, the simplicity that says you are here. It is not nimono, but it is the same impulse — the reaching for a vegetable, the returning to something real, the practice made portable enough to carry wherever the tour takes you.

Garlic-Herb Fried Patty Pan Squash

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 25 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs patty pan squash, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch wedges
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Instructions

1. Prep the squash. Trim the stem and blossom ends from each patty pan squash, then cut into 1/2-inch wedges. Pat the pieces dry with a paper towel so they sear rather than steam in the pan.
2. Heat the oil. Warm the olive oil in a large cast-iron or heavy skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering, about 2 minutes. The pan should be hot enough that a squash wedge sizzles immediately on contact.
3. Fry the squash. Add the squash wedges in a single layer — work in batches if needed to avoid crowding. Cook undisturbed for 3 to 4 minutes until the undersides are deeply golden, then flip and cook another 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate and repeat with any remaining squash.
4. Build the garlic-herb base. Reduce heat to medium. Add the sliced garlic to the same pan and cook, stirring frequently, for 1 to 2 minutes until just golden and fragrant. Stir in the thyme, rosemary, and red pepper flakes and cook 30 seconds more.
5. Combine and finish. Return all the squash to the pan and toss to coat in the garlic-herb oil. Season with salt and black pepper. Remove from heat, drizzle with lemon juice, and toss once more.
6. Serve. Transfer to a serving platter and scatter the fresh parsley over the top. Serve immediately while the edges are still crisp.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 130 | Protein: 2g | Fat: 10g | Carbs: 9g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 240mg