Grilled Summer Squash Caprese Salad

Happy Fall, friends! The season of cozy everything has finally arrived, although I realize that in many parts of the states it hasn’t exactly felt like fall. We’re lucky enough to have had a little mix of both fall weather and sunny days here in Seattle. We’ve had some rain (thank goodness!) but the temperatures have still been warm enough for grilling and late afternoon lawn games – the sun blessing us with a few more lovely rays before she tucks herself away under a cover of clouds. And since grilling weather is not completely gone, we’ve been making things like this grilled summer squash caprese salad with burrata and basil.

If you’ve been following NK for awhile, you’ve probably noticed that I took a bit of a break from dairy over the last year or so, with the exception of yogurt and some hard cheeses. But lately I’ve been trying to add some back in – mostly just different types of cheese (although I did buy some heavy whipping cream around my birthday to make this brown sugar pavlova – pretty much the best birthday treat of all time!)

Which led to discovering the joy of burrata cheese. And once you find the beauty in burrata it’s sort of impossible to resist the simple pleasure of tearing open that perfect little mozzarella packet of soft cheesy goodness.

Although IF you are dairy free, I think you could make a pretty dang delicious salad in similar fashion by substituting some creamy avocado for the burrata. Definitely adding that to my list for next time.

Grilled summar squash and avocado caprese salad?

I think yes.

I thought about marinating the squash before grilling, but decided against it for the sake of keeping the recipe simple. When you have ultra delicious ingredients to work with those little flavor enhancing tricks become less necessary, and more of an “if you have time” sort of a thing.

how to grill yellow summer squash

As the base of this salad, getting that lovely char on the squash is probably the most technical part of the salad, the rest is really just piling delicious things on a plate 🙂  (<— Not technical, totally awesome).

Here are a few tips for getting the best grilled yellow squash:

• Cut your squash about 1/3 – 1/2 of an inch thick. Any thinner and you’ll run the risk of them softening too much in the middle and falling apart, and any thicker and the outside will probably char before the squash is completely cooked through.
• Like any grilling project, make sure your grates are clean and brush them with a little oil to prevent sticking! However, always brush the grates BEFORE the fire is going, or use a paper towel and tongs with just a little bit of oil to avoid a fire flare up that could burn your fingers.
• Toss squash in an adequate amount of high heat cooking oil before cooking to again, prevent sticking. For this recipe I use about 3 medium sized squash and 1 tablespoon of oil. Basically you want them to be thoroughly coated.
• While they’re cooking, don’t move them around! By letting the squash cook without being touched, you allow for that nice char to form, which in turn will aid in releasing the squash from the grates once they’re ready. For a medium-hot grill this usually takes about 2-3 minutes. You should be able to tell when they’re ready by lifting a corner to test.

Once the squash slices are ready, move them to a plate to cool ever-so-slightly – the salad really is the best when the squash are still slightly warm from the grill. When you pair that with the creamy cool burrata, a generous glug of olive oil, balsamic, fresh basil, and some toasty pine nuts you’re gonna know why I’m so in love with this simple in between seasons dish.

Did you make this recipe? I would love to know how it turned out for you! when you rate my recipes and leave feedback it helps me continue to improve. you can leave me a comment below, or snap a picture and post it to instagram with the tag @nyssaskitchen or hashtag #nyssaskitchen! xo

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