Fried Zucchini

One of the difficult things about moving to a new location is that you miss what you've left behind: friends, places, the beach (sniff) and favorite eateries! A few of my SoCal favorites are- (in no particular order)

• In 'n Out
• Panera Bread
• Steer n' Stein
• Cielito Lindo (on Olvera St in LA... yummy taquitos)

The first one, In n' Out has finally appeared here in Utah and Salt Lake Valleys, but, sadly, I have to live without Panera Bread and Steer n' Stein.  (I've got taquitos covered!) My favoritest thing about Steer n' Stein is their Fried Zucchini... ON MY YUM!! There are times I just crave it! But, sadly, I am out of luck. I've begged several local restaurants to serve it, but none of them have... sniff...

OK here's where the long part of the story comes in...
SO Tuesday I stripped all of my tomatoes off the vines since it was going to freeze. I have 3 BYU ice cream buckets (3 gallon size) full of green to somewhat-ripe tomatoes. Then on Thursday I thought I'd give Fried Green Tomatoes a try (since I've never had them and love the movie by the same name.) I went to my "go-to" resource- Google (BTW- what did we do before the internet?), found a recipe for said fried green tomatoes, made them, shared them and decided that they weren't my favorite.

But that got my little brain to thinking (duh, what took me so long??). Why don't I just make my own fried zucchini? (again with the DUH). I knew that the batter at Steer n' Stein was similar to a tempura batter, one of my favorites; as opposed to bread crumbs or cornmeal. I Googled my-little-Joanie-girl-self up a tempura batter recipe that looked right (I knew it needed to have cornstarch), bought some zuc's and decided to give it a try.

Oh! My! Stinkin'! Heck! (You'd think I live in Utah or something!) I think I've nailed it! Camille and Kevin, Stuart and Anna* were here to partake and all agree that I've succeeded in bringing Steer n' Stein to Utah Valley.

NOT THE GREATEST PHOTO... BUT, OH WELL... IT TASTED YUMMY

So I will share my secret with you. I hope you enjoy them.

FRIED ZUCCHINI

• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup cold water
• 1 egg, separated
• 1 cup flour, for dredging
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 1-inch diameter zucchinis
• Parmesan Cheese (the shake-a-shake kind, not shredded)
• BYU Creamery's Buttermilk Ranch Dressing (ok... I guess you don't HAVE to have it from BYU, but that is the best!)
• cooking oil

DIRECTIONS

Wash zucchini.  Cut in half lengthwise then cut each half into long spears, usually 4 per half, but you can make them smaller.  Place 1 cup flour to a plastic bag (I just used the produce bag I had the zucchini in). Add salt and pepper to taste (I like the grindy-grindy kind). Dump in the zucchini spears and shake, set aside.

Tempura batter
Sift together 3/4 c flour, cornstarch, and baking soda.  Beat together cold water and egg yolk.  Stir into flour mixture.  Beat egg white until smooth and frothy.  Stir into batter.

Heat about 3/4" of cooking oil in a heavy pan (I love to use my enamel covered cast iron  Dutch oven for frying, it has wonderful even heating and the high sides eliminate the spatter mess!) to 350 degrees.

When oil is hot give the bag of zucchini spears another shake, dip the floured zucchini in the tempura batter, carefully add to hot oil. Don't crowd your pan.  (I can fit 6 in my 6.5 quart Dutch oven). Fry 3-4 minutes until golden brown, turning once.  Remove to paper towels to drain.  Place fried zucchini on serving plate, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Enjoy them plain or dipped liberally in Ranch dressing!  It is a true taste treat.


* Bet you thought I forgot about my asterix!  Anna is Stuart's Canadian girlfriend, here for a visit.  We like her a lot.  I'll keep you posted...