Summer squash, white bread, Ritz crackers, eggs and cheddar combine in mysterious, marvelous ways to deliver a perfect accompaniment to a grilled chicken or weekend roast.
“Why don’t you just cook something that tastes really good?”
This was Julia Reed’s mother talking, chiding her daughter, a writer of uncommon style and wit who used to contribute food essays and recipes to The New York Times Magazine, for spending too much time thinking about complicated, over-the-top recipes at the expense of simple, honest American cooking that draws compliments not because it looks amazing, but because it’s delicious.
Reed quoted her mother in one of those essays, in 2002, above a recipe that still fits the bill, for what she called “the best squash casserole on the planet Earth.