Gagooch (a.k.a. Zucchini with Onions and Eggs)

The first time I ever tried zucchini it had been cooked with onions and scrambled eggs. From what I remember, my mother's middle sister, Stasia, had gotten this recipe from her Sicilian father-in-law, who taught her how to make lots of traditional dishes with which to keep her husband happy and well-fed. I don't know if they kept him happy, because Uncle Tony always seemed like a bit of a crank to me, but he was definitely well-fed.

I call this dish "gagooch." It may be a child's bastardization of the word "zucca," which is an Italian word for "squash," or it might just be one of the many nonsense words my family liked to make up. Ever since, "gagooch" has been my name for zucchini, even without the eggs. Yellow squash, however, is not "gagooch" because, well, it's just not.

To make one of my childhood favorites, you need five ingredients:

butter
onion
zucchini (yellow squash is acceptable, but, you know, not gagooch)
eggs
salt

First, roughly chop some onion and twice as much zucchini. So to half a cup of onion, chop a whole cup of squash. I like to peel the squash because sometimes they are sandy even after washing and I don't like sand in my eggs.

Sauté the vegetables in a tablespoon of butter until they become soft and slightly browned.

For this amount of veg, I would use four whole eggs, first beaten in a bowl with a teaspoon of water or milk, and then poured into the skillet. Scramble to your liking. Serve hot with toast.

I gussied it up with a couple chives and a bit of spicy globe basil. Even with the fancy herbal accoutrement, it was a taste of childhood. A shame Mr Minx doesn't like zucchini, otherwise I'd make this more often. As it was, I tortured him a bit. Sorry, hon. :)

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