Recipe: Baked Zucchini Fries & Chinese Scallion Pancakes

We usually make fun things on Friday nights…you know, stuff that an 8-year-old would be excited to eat…chicken fingers, pizza…shit like that.  So recently we’ve been doing appetizer nights. And on this night we made two appetizers, baked zucchini fries and Chinese scallion pancakes.

Ingredients:

1 cup Panko

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

4 zucchini, quartered lengthwise

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 large eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

Lo Note: Next time I’ll skip the flour…it made the fries way too dry and caky.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Coat a cooling rack with nonstick spray and place on a baking sheet; set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine Panko, Parmesan and Italian seasoning; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Set aside.

3. Working in batches, dredge zucchini in flour, dip into eggs, then dredge in Panko mixture, pressing to coat.

4. Place zucchini onto prepared baking sheet. Place into oven and bake for 20-22 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp.

Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.

Ingredients:

½ cup low-sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 teaspoons sambal-style chili paste

1 teaspoon sugar

1 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks

1 14-oz pkg round white dumpling wrappers

¼ cup toasted sesame oil

8 scallions, chopped

8 tablespoons canola oil

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, rice vinegar, chili paste and sugar; stir in ginger and set aside.

2. on cutting board, place 1 dumpling wrapper, lightly brush top with sesame oil and scatter 2 teaspoons scallions on top.  Top with second dumpling wrapper, pressing to adhere. Repeat with sesame oil, scallions and wrappers until you have a stack of 6 wrappers. Repeat with remaining ingredients to make a total of 8 stacks of 6 wrappers each.

3. working with 1 at a time, using a rolling pin, roll out each stack of wrappers to 6in diameter circle, turning and flipping over as necessary.  Repeat until all stacks are rolled out.

4 Heat 1 tablespoon canola oil on medium. Cook 1 pancake at a time until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes preside.

Serve sprinkled with any remaining scallions and with ginger-chili sauce for dipping.  

Recipe inspiration found HERE and HERE.

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