“Fried” Zucchini (Courgette) Sticks

Long a popular appetizer in Italian restaurants, this is a great way to use up some of that bumper crop of zucchini taking over your vegetable garden.  It’s not only a tasty appetizer, but a delicious side dish kids will love!  In addition, it is significantly lower in calories than the fried version.

Ingredients:

2 medium zucchini cut into sticks
2 egg whites
¾ cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
1 cup panko bread crumbs
½ cup grated Parmegiano cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 425º convection or 450º conventional.
2. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray lightly with olive oil cooking spray.
3. Place the egg whites in a rimmed dish and whisk until well blended
4. Combine the flour, salt, pepper and cayenne in a plastic bag and shake to combine.
5. Combine the breadcrumbs and Parmegiano on a sheet of waxed paper.
6. Place half the zucchini sticks in the bag and shake to coat.  Remove and shake off excess flour.
7. Dip sticks in egg whites and then roll in the breadcrumb mixture to coat.
8. Place on the baking sheet, spray lightly with olive oil cooking spray and bake for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned.
9. Serve with marinara sauce.

NOTES:  Panko breadcrumbs are large, crunchy breadcrumbs available in most grocery stores.  If you can’t find them, use plain breadcrumbs.  A recipe for marinara sauce can be found here on my website and is also on You Tube. 

Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients:

3 cups  all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons  granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons  cold unsalted butter, cut in small pieces
¾ cup raisins
1 tablespoon caraway seeds (optional)
1 ½ cups  buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375 ° and place the rack in the center of the oven.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and
salt. Cut the cold butter into small pieces and blend into the flour
mixture, with a pastry blender or your hands, until the mixture looks
like coarse crumbs. 

Stir in the raisins. Make a well in the center of
the flour mixture and add most of the buttermilk. Using yours hands,
or a spatula, mix (adding more buttermilk if necessary) until you have
a soft moist dough.

Transfer to a lightly floured surface and gently knead the dough into
a 7-inch  round. Place the round on your prepared baking sheet and
then, with a sharp knife, cut a ¼ inch deep "X" across the top of the
bread.

Bake for about 40 - 50 minutes or until nicely browned and a toothpick
inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. You can also
test that is fully baked by tapping the bottom of the bread - it should sound hollow. Remove from oven.
Cool slightly and serve with lots of butter!

 

WATCH THE VIDEO DEMONSTRATION

Eliza’s Banana Bread

I don't know about you but, every so often I end up with a few overripe bananas and this bread, a favorite of our granddaughter Eliza (photo), is a great way to use them up.  In fact, it's worth buying a few extra bananas just for this purpose!

Ingredients

1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips
¾ cup walnuts, toasted, chopped
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 
2. Butter and flour 9x5x2 ½ -inch metal loaf pan. 
3. Whisk first 4 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. 
4. Combine chocolate chips and walnuts in small bowl; add 1 tablespoon flour mixture and toss to coat. 
5. Beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually add sugar, beating until well blended. 
6. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. 
7. Beat in mashed bananas, lemon juice and vanilla extract. 
8. Beat in flour mixture. 
9. Spoon ⅓ of batter into prepared pan. 
10. Sprinkle with half of nut mixture. 
11. Spoon ⅓ of batter over. Sprinkle with remaining nut mixture. 
12. Cover with remaining batter. 
13. Run knife through batter in zigzag pattern.

Bake bread until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 5 minutes. Turn out onto rack and cool.