Another summertime favorite around here is fried zucchini (for the record, we like zucchini prepared in pretty much any way, including in breads, pancakes, stir-fry, spaghetti sauce, soup, and so forth). While it does take a little bit of prep time, it is worth it in my opinion. The former health educator in me feels like I need to say, “as with any fried food, enjoy, but in moderation” 🙂
Ingredients:
- 1 zucchini (I find that an ~12″ long zucchini works well for my family)
- ~2 cups of breading (I typically use about 1 c crushed Ritz crackers and 1 c Panko bread crumbs)
- ~3/4 tsp Italian seasoning
- ~1/2 tsp salt
- ~1/2 c freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- A few cranks of freshly ground pepper
- 1 egg
- 1 TBSP flour
- Cooking oil
Directions:
- Wash the zucchini and trim off the ends; then slice the zucchini into the desired thickness (I find that around an eighth- to a quarter-inch thickness works well).
- In a shallow dish, combine the flour and egg and beat with a fork until the flour is fully incorporated.
- In a separate dish, combine the breading, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese.
- Arrange your dish of egg-flour mixture, dish of crumb mixture, and plate of sliced zucchini so that you can easily dip the sliced zucchini from the egg-flour mixture into the crumb mixture, and then onto a separate plate. To do this, I put the egg-flour dish to the left and the crumb mixture to the right; I designate my left hand to be the ‘gooey’ hand, where its job is to dip each slice into the egg-flour mixture (making sure both sides are covered) and then my right hand is designated as my ‘dry’ hand, where its job is to press each side into the crumb mixture (again, making sure both sides are adequately covered). I like to place the slices onto the left side of the crumb dish so that I have enough crumb mixture to the right of the slices to pick up and cover the top of the slice with. Do this with each zucchini slice until you are either out of zucchini or out of breading. If I have any zucchini left, I either save this for another meal -or- make up a little more of the crumb mixture.
- Add enough cooking oil to sufficiently cover the bottom of your skillet, plus a little extra. To make the frying process less-tedious, I use an electric skillet (set at ~350F), which allows me to prepare all of the slices in just two rounds. I fry the slices for about 4 minutes then turn over each slice with tongs and fry the other side for about 4 minutes. The end result should be a golden-brown color. Once done, line a plate with paper towel and place the fried slices on the plate. Begin the second round of frying.
Note: If your family is anything like mine, the first plate is devoured as the second round of slices are being prepared. While we like to eat them as-is, sometimes, I will warm up a dipping sauce (such as marinara) to enjoy with the fried zucchini slices.