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By Root 1031 0

make sandwiches out of leftovers for striking streetcar workers. A nickel, it’s said, would buy one of these “poor boys” a hefty sandwich of beef trimmings, potatoes, and gravy (today’s po’boys are usually filled with fried oysters). Although Madame Hypolite Bégué (Elizabeth Kettering) is also said to have created the po’boy in the late nineteenth century, most culinary historians credit the Martins. But there’s discrepancy about the date. Some say 1922, not 1929.

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YELLOW SQUASH PUDDING

MAKES 4 TO 6 SERVINGS

Until the late 1950s, or perhaps early ’60s, there was a delightful tea room in Raleigh, North Carolina, called the Reinlyn House. Run by two elderly women (sisters, if memory serves), it was located on Hillsboro Street in a Charles Addams–style Victorian near the State Capitol. That proud old house, like so many others in Raleigh, succumbed to the wrecking ball, and although the tea room relocated to a small strip mall just off Glenwood Avenue, it didn’t survive. The one Reinlyn recipe that I’ve remembered all these years is the yellow squash pudding, which I’ve tried to duplicate here. The secret, I discovered, is slow, slow cooking so that the onions and squash actually caramelize. Despite its time on the stovetop and in the oven, this squash pudding requires very little attention. Note: Before I had a food processor, I chopped the squash by hand. Now I chunk it and processor-chop in four batches, pulsing each to just the right texture. I also processor-chop the onion.

3 tablespoons butter

1 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon crumbled dried leaf marjoram

½ teaspoon crumbled dried leaf thyme

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

12 tender young yellow squash (about 2½ pounds), trimmed and coarsely chopped

¾ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

¾ cup soda cracker crumbs (not too fine) mixed with 2 tablespoons melted butter (topping)

1. Lightly butter a shallow 2-quart flameproof casserole and set aside.

2. Melt the butter in a large, heavy saucepan over moderately high heat. Add the onion, marjoram, thyme, and nutmeg; reduce the heat to moderate, and sauté for about 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onion is lightly browned.

3. Mix in the squash, salt, and pepper, then cover and cook for 40 to 45 minutes until the squash is very soft, stirring now and then. Toward the end of cooking, preheat the oven to 350° F. Note: If the squash threatens to boil dry—not likely if you keep the heat at moderate or moderately low—add about ¼ cup water.

4. Scoop the squash mixture into the prepared casserole, spreading to the edge, and bake uncovered on the middle oven shelf for 30 minutes. Stir well, scatter the topping evenly over all, then bake 30 minutes longer or until the topping is touched with brown. Note: If the topping is not brown enough to suit you, slide the casserole into the broiler, setting about 5 inches from the heat, and broil 1 to 2 minutes.

5. Serve hot with fried chicken or roast pork, turkey, or chicken. Delicious, too, with baked ham.

BAKED STUFFED YELLOW SQUASH

MAKES 6 SERVINGS

Among the vegetables Southerners love to stuff, yellow squash are at the top of the list. Some cooks like to mix sausage, ham, or hamburger into their squash stuffing, but I prefer this meatless one. Note: Only straight-neck yellow squash will do here. Bypass any squash languishing at your supermarket and choose tender young ones at your farmer’s market.

3 medium straight-neck yellow squash (1 to 1½ pounds), trimmed and scrubbed (see Note above)

1½ cups coarse soda cracker crumbs

½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons finely grated yellow onion

1 tablespoon minced parsley

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme or ½ teaspoon crumbled leaf thyme

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1½ tablespoons butter, cut into small dice

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Spritz a 13 × 9 × 2-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

2. Place the squash in a large, heavy saucepan,