Summer Squash Salad -- From Roger’s Garden to the Table

I drove to Grinnell Saturday. Roger was in the garden — the garden that is his whole world now, the 84-year-old man who tends six tomato plants and twelve sunflowers with the same care he once gave four hundred acres. He's slower but he's still Roger. He still watches the crop reports. He still calls Jack on Wednesdays.

The recipe this week: grilled bratwursts. Standing at the stove, Marlene's wooden spoon in my hand (the cracked one, the one that will outlast us all), the recipe either from the card box or from my own expanding collection, both equally real, both equally mine. The kitchen holds all of it — the old recipes and the new ones, the teacher's food and the student's food, the grief and the joy and the cinnamon. All of it. Always.

Canning approaches. August. The ritual that marks the turn from growing to preserving, from garden to pantry, from the sun to the jar. The pressure canner — Marlene's mother's, weight jiggly, gauge lying, handle replaced twice — waiting in the closet like a veteran reporting for duty. The heirloom equipment for the heirloom work.

Standing in that kitchen with Marlene’s cracked wooden spoon, watching August creep closer with its promise of canning and preserving, I kept thinking about Roger’s garden — those six tomato plants tended like they were the whole world. Something about this Summer Squash Salad felt right: it’s the kind of recipe that belongs to the season, honest and unadorned, the sort of thing you make when the garden is still giving and you want to honor that before the jars and the pressure canner take over. It’s a dish that tastes like early August feels — still warm, still generous, not quite ready to let go.

Summer Squash Salad

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 0 min | Total Time: 15 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 2 medium zucchini, thinly sliced into rounds
• 2 medium yellow summer squash, thinly sliced into rounds
• 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 cup shaved Parmesan or crumbled feta (optional)

Instructions

1. Slice the vegetables. Using a sharp knife or mandoline, cut the zucchini and yellow squash into thin, even rounds. Slice the red onion as thin as you can manage. Halve the cherry tomatoes and set everything in a large mixing bowl.
2. Make the dressing. In a small bowl or jar, whisk together the olive oil, red wine vinegar, honey, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper until well combined.
3. Combine and toss. Pour the dressing over the vegetables and toss gently to coat. Fold in the torn basil leaves, taking care not to bruise them too much.
4. Rest briefly. Let the salad sit for 5 to 10 minutes at room temperature so the squash softens just slightly and absorbs the dressing.
5. Finish and serve. Taste and adjust salt or vinegar as needed. Transfer to a serving platter and top with shaved Parmesan or crumbled feta if using. Serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 95 | Protein: 2g | Fat: 7g | Carbs: 7g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 185mg