Fried Zucchini With Pecorino and Hot Pepper
- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- Vegetable oil for frying
- 1cup all-purpose flour
- Salt and pepper
- Pinch of cayenne
- 1egg, lightly beaten
- ¼cup milk
- 2pounds zucchini, sliced
- ½cup chopped parsley
- 1small garlic clove, minced
- ½teaspoon lemon zest
- Grated pecorino cheese
- Crushed red pepper flakes
Preparation
- Step 1
Pour oil to a depth of 1 inch in a wide frying pan and heat to 375 degrees.
- Step 2
Put flour in a pie plate, season generously with salt and pepper and add a pinch of cayenne. Combine lightly beaten egg and milk. Working in batches, dip zucchini slices lightly in seasoned flour, then in egg mixture, then once more in flour. Carefully slip them into hot oil, without crowding. Cook for about 2 minutes on each side, until golden. Remove and drain on paper towels, then transfer to a warm platter. Salt lightly.
- Step 3
In a small bowl, mix together parsley, garlic and lemon zest. Sprinkle a little of the mixture over fried zucchini, then sprinkle lightly with grated cheese and red pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
Private Notes
Comments
This is a phenomenal recipe and beats what is in even the fanciest restaurants! One adjustment I suggest: put 3 crushed garlic cloves into the egg/milk mix, to cut down on the strong, uncooked garlic flavor and spread out the wonderful garlic flavor throughout the fry. I served with a homemade marinara.
This was a nice alternative for the ton of zucchini we've got now. I kept the leftovers wrapped in paper towels in the fridge for a few days and baked them until crispy last night. They came back well.
This was a delightful prep for zucchini. It took me about 40 minutes total - 20 minutes to heat oil and prep ingredients, 20 min to run the batches through. I sliced the zucchini diagonally, a generous 1/4” thick, and had plenty of batter. The garlic/parsley/lemon juice topping was a game-changer. Next time, I’ll likely follow of the advice of other commenters and use less oil and I’ll edge initially heating toward 400 degrees, which got me a more consistent crisp on my batches.
As noted by other commenters, I set my heat on the pan, heading towards 400°, sliced up my zucchini, more in planks than rounds and set up a three dish dipping station with flour number one, egg milk, number two and previously prepared breadcrumbs with parsley as number three. Didn’t take long at all was pretty easy about 40 minutes. Total start to finish Gotta do something with those zucchini!
Nice crisp on the zuke. Added a lot more than a pinch of cayenne. Cut about an inch and a quarter on the diagonal but might do thicker. Used costata romanesco because its flavor is far superior to standard green zuke. Definitely strong raw garlic flavor, but delicious with the parsley and lemon zest. May add some of the garlic to the flour next time.
Can these be done in an AirFryer ?