Thursday, September 30, 2010

Shallow-fried zucchini rounds








They look a little dark here, but that's a function of questionable photography and homemade breadcrumbs. They aren't burned, they're excellent!


Peter was busy at work making pasta ponza, a Giada Delaurentiis inspired dish. No recipe for it here, all I know is that it involves eggplant. It became my task to provide a green vegetable. At first I thought I’d make my braised broccoli, but changed my mind and decided to recreate one of the only zucchini dishes Peter ever spoke highly of. It consists of 1 ½” rounds of zuke, dredged in flour, dipped in egg and then in breadcrumbs. Then it’s quickly shallow-fried in about 1/8” of vegetable oil.

It may surprise you to know that I last made this on August 8, 2008. How do I know that? Because it’s in my (unpublished) book, “A Year of Food.” Don’t know why I haven’t done this again since. One of the great mysteries of life.

I can report that Peter was as enthusiastic about this as he was over 2 years ago. Me too.

Shallow-fried zucchini rounds (2 servings)
1 zucchini large enough to yield 8 1-½” rounds
kosher salt
black pepper
paprika
all-purpose flour
1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 tbsp water
unseasoned bread crumbs, homemade or panko

Trim the ends of the zuke. Cut it in half, across, in the middle. Cut each half in half and then one more time. Now you should have 8 pieces. Put the zuke on a rack over a paper towel and sprinkle each cut side liberally with kosher salt. Let stand 15 – 20 minutes. Wipe the salt off with the paper towel.

Sprinkle the rounds on both sides with some black pepper and paprika. Dredge in flour, dip in egg, and coat with breadcrumbs (just the cut sides as that is all that will come in contact with the sauté pan).

Heat 1/8” vegetable oil in a sauté pan over medium high heat (6 on my 1-10 dial). When oil is very hot, fry the zukes about 3 minutes per side, until golden brown and hot throughout. The goal is not to soften them in the center, rather let them retain their structural integrity. Serve at once.

4 comments:

Pam said...

I love zucchini cooked like this! The bread crumbs make it so tasty.

megcjones said...

these look awesome! can't wait to try this out.


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Pam said...

This looks and sounds delicious to me. It's kind of funny since you mentioned eggplant as this is the exact way I make eggplant. Although, sometimes I dredge it in a cornmeal mixture; half flour, half cornmeal. Then serve it with a lemon wedge. I will have to try the zucchini now with panko. Yum!

Unknown said...

Fried zucchini is actually my favorite way to prepare it. When I was a kid, that's about the only way that I would eat zucchini!!

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