The universe of “summer squash” is vast. You can get lost in it. Zucchinis, crooknecks, pattypans…those funny globe ones, whatever they’re even called. And those are just high level categories. Orbiting each of those categories are seemingly endless solar systems of cultivars… “Sunbursts” and “Blackees” and on and on. How is a person supposed to decide which kind of summer squash to grow?

There is a way! I hereby commend to you an amazing book: Tender, by Nigel Slater. When I mentioned this book to Nadia, she was like “oh, of course.” Our dear friend Nigel is a big whig on the BBC, and he’s been the food columnist for The Observer for the last couple of decades, and they made a movie of his memoir starring the adorable Freddie Highmore and the insane Helena Bonham Carter (I haven’t read his memoir, but the casting of Helena Bonham Carter makes me retroactively concerned for his childhood well-being). But I’m not British, and there you go, blank slate on Nigel Slater till this book.

But oh, how I love the man now. Tender is a year in the life of the garden of his London row house, sort of a garden journal, plus recipes for each of the vegetables he grows. The photos are dark and sumptuous, like Old Masters paintings. See those pears? There are a gazillion more luscious photos like that one. The book is worth it for the photos alone.

Then there are the recipes. Simple, hearty, and mouth-watering. Reading his recipes for vegetables that aren’t in season yet is enough to make me wish away months or living, just so pumpkins (or whatever) will arrive and I can finally whip up those “warm pumpkin scones for a winter’s afternoon” or the “new season’s potatoes with pancetta, walnut oil, and sherry vinegar.”

But the recipes aren’t my favorite part. Here’s what I really love: his recommendations for varieties of vegetables to grow. You can get growing recommendations from a lot of places, but most of the time they’ve got a farmer-y slant: “Grow this corn because it shoots up fast and ships well,” or “this tomato resists mites!” Nigel Slater’s growing recommendations are based on…are you ready…FLAVOR.

Here are a few of his recommended summer squash varieties, complete with his descriptions:

• Gold Rush. An early, heavy-cropping zucchini-style squash with a crisp texture that some say is redolent of mushrooms.
• Lebanese White Bush, White Egyptian. Beautiful, almost white variety, shaped like a small eggplant, this is the one for Middle Eastern dishes, looks coolly elegant with mint.
• Costata Romanesca. Heavily ridged pale green fruits with good flavor (for a zucchini). Mine always produce a lot of male flowers of exception size, so ideal for stuffing. Generally sweeter than the dark green varieties.

Redolent of mushrooms? Coolly elegant with mint? Sign me up. Oh wait, I already signed up. Sign you up, I mean! If you take the plunge and buy the book, let us know. I’d love to compare cooking and growing notes. As always, spadespatula@gmail.com.

Tags: Book Reviews, Nigel Slater, pattypan, summer squash, Tender, zucchini