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Monday, July 25, 2011

veggie fries

while you are reading this, I am camping far far away from my computer. I am off where cell signal doesn't exist, and if there is wifi, I don't want to know about it. I may come down from the mountain once or twice during the week to check in with the housesitter, but I may not. Hopefully I am cooking up lots of great meals and even greater memories that I will share with you when I get back.



In my quest to make room in the fridge for the food I was prepping for the camping trip, I found I needed to get rid of a fair amount of vegetable matter. Which should come as no surprise to you.

I have recently become addicted to pinterest, where I find that I am pinning all sorts of recipe ideas. Which should come as no surprise to you.



One of the recipes I pinned (actually twice without realizing it) was for zucchini fries. Ohhhhh my. 

I started working on making the fries (with yellow squash instead, since that is what I have right now), but in order to get to the yellow squash I had to shove my way past some green beans. Hmmm, I thought. Green bean fries? Why the heck not? Why the heck not, indeed. I actually liked the green bean fries better than the squash fries. But I like green beans better than zucchini or yellow squash, so there you go.



I am happy to report that this recipe works well for both yellow squash and green beans. Which means that soon I will be trying it with.... butternut squash, sweet potatoes, asparagus, onion.... everything I can't figure out how to otherwise use up!



Veggie Fries

1/4 cup flour
2 eggs
2 cups panko bread crumbs
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon dried parsley
veggies (I used 2 small yellow squash and a large handful of green beans)



Preheat the oven to 425.

Place the flour into a large ziploc bag and set aside.

Whisk the eggs with about 2 tablespoons of water in a shallow bowl.

Combine the bread crumbs and seasonings in another bowl.

Cut up the veggies (just trim the ends of the green beans, and cut the zucchini into 1/2 inch diameter sticks).

Toss all of the veggies in the bag of flour, until they are coated. Dip each into the egg mixture, and then into the crumb mixture.

Lay them out on a baking sheet (I recommend covering it in foil or parchment first).

Bake for about 18-20 minutes, until they are golden brown. These are best eaten warm and fresh, dipped into some sort of aioli or yogurt-based dip.