By Carolyne
Zucchini is wonderful cut like potato french fries. You’ll need flour (whatever kind of flour you prefer), egg yolk wash and your favourite homemade-only breadcrumbs (not pulsed too fine). Add spices or just salt and pepper if you like, to the coarse crumbs (freeze any extra crumbs) or just use plain.
Deep fry in your favourite (fresh always) oil. Don’t ever use olive oil for deep frying. The high heat breaks down the chemistry of the oil and some say it becomes a carcinogen. No sense taking chances.
Salt as soon as you remove the fries from the oil, while they are still piping hot, and place them on a paper towel to mop up any extra oil. These fries are just amazing and cook very fast.
Never walk away from a pot of hot oil on the stove. Never! It doesn’t need to be a dangerous procedure. Just be careful. Do not answer the phone or the doorbell when you are deep-frying. If you turn off the heat to do so, whatever is in the pot will get soggy. But more important, if you leave the pot on the heat you could end up with a fire.
Don’t put more than necessary oil in the pot. Use a heavy pot (never a light-weight aluminum pot). Use a pot with high sides, about half full of oil. Test for the right heat by gently dropping in a cube of bread. It should immediately rise to the surface and turn golden brown if the temperature is perfect. Failing that, use an oil thermometer to test.
You often will have to adjust heat as food cooks, because the food is redistributing the heat. That’s how it is supposed to be, so if you are not familiar with deep-frying, it’s okay. Don’t add too much food. Fry in small quantities. Keep food warm with a tinfoil tent, but be careful, because the food will continue to cook it its own heat and you don’t want to create steam. The food needs to breathe.
When the breadcrumbs are a nice golden colour, the zucchini is done. Sometimes I put a sprinkle of Parmesan and Romano mixed grated cheese in the breadcrumbs and add some favourite spices, like a pinch of dried thyme and garlic salt. Enjoy!
If you enjoy spicy things, sprinkle cooked fries with cayenne pepper while the fries are still hot. Good, and good for you, but beware… the cayenne is hot, so if you have never used it, be very careful… use just a bit. Cayenne pepper is great, by the way, on egg salad. Actually, it’s fabulous!
The working title for Carolyne’s Gourmet Recipes cookbook is From Lady Ralston’s Kitchen: A Canadian Contessa Cooks. This kitchen-friendly doyenne has been honoured and referred to as the grande dame of executive real estate in her market area during her 35-year career. She taught gourmet cooking in the mid-70s and wrote a weekly newspaper cooking column, long before gourmet was popular as it is today. Her ebook, Gourmet Cooking – at Home with Carolyne is available here for $5.99 US. Email Carolyne. Scroll down to the comments at each recipe column. Carolyne often adds complimentary “From Lady Ralston’s Kitchen” additional recipes in the Recipes for Realtors Comments section at REM.
