Shaved Summer Squash Salad with Pesto and Pepitas

This salad just screams summer, with its bright colors and many textures. We always have some version of a squash salad at Cured during the summer, because at a certain point we inevitably have more squash than we know what to do with. And I don’t think people know how good raw summer squash can taste!

SERVES 4

INGREDIENTS 

• 2 pounds zucchini and yellow squash, ends trimmed

  Cured: Cooking with Ferments, Pickles, Preserves & More Steve McHugh

• Salt

• 3⁄4 cup goat cheese, softened

• 1⁄4 cup roasted salted pepitas

• ⅓ cup pesto

• Freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Use a peeler to cut the squash into paper-thin ribbons, making sure each strip includes a little bit of the colorful peel. Stop when you reach the seeds and discard the seedy center.

2. Toss the ribbons gently in a colander with a big pinch of salt. Allow to drain in the sink for 10 minutes.

3. Either distribute the squash among individual plates or pile onto a serving dish. Dot the salad with small dollops of goat cheese and sprinkle with pepitas.

4. Drizzle the pesto over the salad and grind some pepper over the top. Serve.

Reprinted with permission from Cured by Steve McHugh & Paula Forbes, copyright © 2024. Photographs by Denny Culbert. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC.

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