fried zucchini

Zucchini are one of our favorite veggies, they are so versatile in the kitchen. We like the lighter green lengthwise ridged Roman zucchini (zucchine romanesche) better for a slight taste upgrade in pasta sauces, but they are not available in the US. We also found out that zucchini are feminine in Italian so a single zucchini is a zucchina, plural zucchine (like fettucina, fettucine). What a surprise. However, ordinary common zucchini are great. By the way in English "zucchini" can be singular or plural like "deer", or you can say "zucchinis" but that feels just plain wrong to me. Make your own choice here.

Isgouhi came up with this simple but imprecise recipe and we loved it, even though it is deep fried (if you can call a centimeter of oil deep) which means we generally just say no to this cooking method. But hey, once in a while, why not, canola oil is not so bad. These are delicious. And so easy to do.

ingredients

some zucchini
some salt and pepper
some flour and Middle Eastern red pepper (paprika if not available)
canola oil or healthy frying oil
freshly squeezed lemon juice and pressed garlic to taste

instructions

  1. Clean and slice widthwise (about 1/4 in thick) your zucchinis. Salt and pepper them and spread them out on  a paper towel. Wait a few minutes for the salt to draw out some moisture. Then tamp dry with some more paper towel.
  2. Mix together enough flour and some Middle East red pepper (okay paprika) according to your spice tastes and press the zucchini slices on both sides onto this mixture and shake off (whatever) the excess flour and lay out on a cookie sheet.
  3. Heat about 1/4 in of canola oil in a large nonstick frying pan and fry the zucchini in batches in the oil without touching each other (too much), removing them to a large plate once golden brown.
  4. Brush or drizzle them with the juice of one large lemon (depends on how many zucchini you do!) with some pressed garlic mixed in.
  5. Serve warm.

notes

  1. If you are curious, zucchine romanesche.
  2. These are also great cold as leftovers, the more you make the merrier! They are especially tasty with warm Naan bread, or as a hummus wrap.
  3. Can also be done with eggplants!
  4. Illustrations available.
friedzucchini.htm: 14-sep-2014 [what, ME cook? © 1984 dr bob enterprises]