The expansive squash family includes a host of versatile gourds just waiting for a creative cook's touch. Summer varieties fill gardens and overflow market tables; hardy late-season types nourish us through the winter. The burning question: what to do with all this squash?

Smitten with Squash celebrates this underappreciated vegetable, whose long-lasting season ranges from the June-August staples of zucchini and summer squash through autumn's piles of butternut, carnival, and red kuri, just to name a few. Knowledgeable and imaginative guide Amanda Paa describes the very American...