Squash - Underdog of the Late Summer Menu

It's no big surprise that eventually the best food is the food of our grandmas, those simple and familiar tastes that take us back to childhood.

To feel them, you have to dig deep into local, traditional recipes. And be careful to eat seasonal. Which goes in favour of many neglected and cheap ingredients, once again back in the spotlight. Good news for a modest and shy vegetable like squash (buča in Croatian), whose peak season is late summer.

“Grated squash, ready for use.” Image credit: Taste of Croatia

So, meet the squash. Let’s simplify and say it’s something like an oversized fat courgette, but light green to green colour. Believe it or not, for a long time squash was regarded as convenient food for pigs, not a delicacy worth serving. It was used in rural kitchens, but mostly because it was cheap and abundant. Well, it was there when you couldn’t find better things. But our grannies knew how to make use of it and turn it into a finger-licking dish. That’s how bučnica was born.

“Delicious warm bučnica by Vinodol restaurant.” Image credit: Taste of Croatia

Bučnica is a very traditional little dish popular in north-western Croatia. Basically, it a strudel filled with fresh cottage cheese, cream and grated squash. And the filo dough has to be hand-made to make it count. Usually it’s a savoury dish, and you can add some extra cream on the side when serving it. Bučnica can be a snack, fingerfood, a starter, or an entire meal. Add some sugar to the cottage cheese in the filling and it becomes a dessert, too. Very versatile little thing it is. The salty version is mostly connected with the region of Zagorje, while Međimurje is more prone to the sweetened version. In the old days poppy seeds were added to the filling, but this custom is now almost extinct. Nowadays you can find a decent bučnica outside countryside kitchens. Many bakeries and pastry shops have it, but that’s usually a pale shadow of the real homemade thing. To find it offered in a good city restaurant is much harder. Luckily, that’s changing and in peak season it’s part of some menus, like in Vinodol restaurant, where it’s served as a big and quite filling warm starter.

“Crispy Zagorje-style bučnica by Vuglec breg.” Image credit: Taste of Croatia

The other old and classic dish connected with squash and lazy late summer is varivo od buče - squash stew. Perfect for hot days when you crave something warm eaten with a spoon, but don’t want anything heavy on your stomach. Actually, it’s a dish made in vegetarian heaven. In the most basic version, grated squash is sauteed with onion, some tomato or tomato concentrate, and in the end you spice it all up and add sour cream and chopped dill. Dill is the key ingredient because it complements the squash perfectly and thus gives the dish a special finishing touch. Enjoy it on its own, or with mashed potatoes, possibly also with an occasional faširanac (local minced meat patty).

“Squash stew.” Image credit: Tourist Board City of Ivanić-Grad

Header image credit: “Squash at Dolac green market” Image credit: Taste of Croatia

Author: Taste of Croatia