Oh my goodness. I wish I had kept track of how many zucchini our one not so little zucchini plant actually produced this summer. It is still going. I have about five more out there and harvested two today. In all I’d guess we are well over 25 or 30 by now. We have reached the point where when the kids ask what is for dinner they say “please don’t say zucchini”. To their credit, until this year they would not even eat one bite of one. And these are two adventurous little eaters. So to have gotten them to eat as much as I did this year has been somewhat of a victory. I saved my last three “I know they will eat it” zucchini tricks for the end of this amazing growing season.
For as long as I can remember my mom has had a little soft cover green book titled…wait for it…The Zucchini Cookbook. It was written in the early 80’s and is full of zucchini recipes, some of which I don’t think you’d ever want to try…peanut butter and zucchini? I think I’ll pass thanks. But it did have a few we tried out which I will share at a later date. Today’s “I know they will eat it” is just a simple version of breaded zucchini. Baked, not fried so it was crispy and healthy, which is a double win at our house.
We started with zucchini sliced at about 1/4″. They were lightly brushed with olive oil and then pressed on each side with panko and parmesan and baked at 375 for about 30 minutes. Removed when golden brown, the crispy panko is a great distraction from the zucchini if you have squeamish eaters in your house too. We served ours as a side dish with pasta and a lovely salad which had been dressed with a coconut balsamic vinegar from our favorite local olive oil shop.
This is a classic and simple recipe updated only by baking not frying. If you are knee deep in zucchini give it a try!
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