I realized something yesterday…

Making fries in various vegetable varieties is kind of my jam. I’m starting to think it’s my life calling to make fries out of just about anything…except potatoes. I have no interest in making French fries…I can just buy those from In-n-Out.

First there were Portobello Fries that I made for you, me…and Kate Moss.

Then…Avocado Fries. I mean…I’ve made them twice since Caroline originally posted them. Amazeballs.

Next there were Spicy Carrot Fries. And then…if I cut these pickles differently, they totally would’ve been pickle fries instead of pickle chips. But seriously, who cares. They were dipped in batter and fried. And then I ate like a hundred with a beer. End of story.

And now I give you these Zucchini Fries. With not one, but two dipping sauces!! Dipping sauces are important. Are you the type that has bbq sauces and hot sauces from fast food restaurants in your glove compartment?!

Yeah, me neither.

I roasted some garlic and made into an aioli. This was a good idea.

And Sriracha Mayonnaise. Ummmm…hello!!! It was delicious. You should do this.

I think we need to start with the garlic aioli. This might take a bit…but it’s downtime; meaning you don’t actually have to do anything.

Just lop off the top part of the garlic, sprinkle with salt and pepper and a tablespoon of olive oil, wrap it up in foil or parchment and stick it in the oven.

Your house will smell glorious. And then later your breath is gonna smell EXACTLY like your house. Don't worry...it'll be cute.

And plus, this is why toothpaste was invented.

A few minutes before the garlic is done, start with the zucchini fries. Cut them in three, long ways, and then halve them. Batons!

Next you wanna dip ‘em in a few beaten eggs.

And then transfer them to a plate with the bread crumb mixture. Let’s talk about this bread crumb mixture for a second.

It’s glorious. There’s grated cheese, red pepper flakes, salt & pepper and dried oregano. So good!

Stick ‘em on a lined baking sheet and bake them for 20 minutes, or until they’re all golden and beautiful.

While that’s all baking, you can make the aiolis. Food processor. Mayonnaise. Salt. Pepper. And the roasted garlic. Next make the Sriracha Mayonnaise.

And then…eat all of the zucchini fries while watching TV. It’s a cute look. Promise.

P.S. Back to school commercials are STILL depressing. How is this possible?

Zucchini Fries with Roasted Garlic Aioli and Sriracha Mayo

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For Zucchini Fries:

1 cup plain bread crumbs (homemade or storebought)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan or pecorino
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper (scale back to 1/4 teaspoon if you’re adverse to spice)
1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon salt
Dash of pepper
2 large eggs, beaten
4-5 zucchini

Preheat oven to 425˙F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or spray it with cooking spray. On a plate, mix together the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, red crushed pepper flakes, oregano, salt and pepper. In a small to medium bowl, beat the two large eggs.

Cut the zucchini into batons. One by one, dip the zucchini batons in the beaten eggs and transfer to the plate with the bread crumb mixture, being sure to coat the zucchini thoroughly. Place the bread crumb covered zucchini on the baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, checking on them after 10 and flipping them to ensure thorough baking. Remove and serve with sauces.

For Roasted Garlic Aioli:

1 whole head garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 cup mayonnaise
Salt and Pepper
1 sprig of chives, diced

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Lop off the top of the garlic, exposing the cloves, and discard. Pour the olive oil on top and add dash of salt and pepper. Wrap it in foil or parchment and bake for 45 minutes. Let cool.

Take the garlic out of its shell and add to a food processor, along with mayonnaise, salt and pepper. Pulse until smooth. Transfer aioli to a bowl and stir in chives.

For Sriracha Mayonnaise:

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon of Sriracha
Dash of salt

Add all three ingredients to a small bowl and mix. If you like it more spicy, add more Sriracha.

Hiiiiiii, you cute people, you! You’re looking mighty fine on this sunny Monday morning. Have I told you that lately? Well you dooo….I have some biscuits for you.

Wait…

Before we continue with talk about zucchini and cheese and butter, can I get emotional on you for a second?

Warning: This might get awkward.

Apologies in advance, but I have to comment on Jennifer Perillo. As many of you know, Jennie, last week, lost her husband. People reached out and asked how they could help. And all she asked from people was to make a peanut butter pie and share it with their loved ones.

And then…something magical happened: everyone did. All of you did. And it was incredible. I’ve never been so proud to be a part of a group of people as much as I was last week. So I wanted to thank you. And tell you you’re all so incredibly beautiful. It can all be ripped from us so quickly, can’t it? So fragile. So delicate. That’s the one commonality we all understood…crystal clear. You all make me believe in the power of good all over again. Truly.

Alright, my tears are wiped…can we talk about butter now? Butter makes people feel better.

When I was at the farmer’s market yesterday–my Sunday routine–the zucchini and squash looked so bright. It never really hit my brain to put vegetables in biscuits so I thought I’d give it a twirl. It worked out lovely, as you can see.

I added some cheese for nutritional value. Or whatever.

Since I was way paranoid about the zucchini releasing too much water, I squeezed (drained) it in a cheese cloth, transferred it to a bowl, added a little salt and then flour. Paranoid much? Probably. But it was way dry. Which was perfect. Sometimes my nervous-nancy, psycho paranoia pays off!

I was all out of buttermilk…(actually I just forgot to pick some up from the store), so I used milk instead. I tweaked the recipe to work with milk and it worked out super lovely. Use what you got!

When these things baked up, they were cheesy, vegetablely (in a good way) and surprisingly fresh tasting. Add a pat of butter and you’re on your way…

Hey, can we all just ignore the pencil in the left hand corner. I mean…what was I doing? I don’t cook with pencils. I promise.

In other news: Why do my drop biscuits always look like they have leprosy? Wait, don’t answer that. Let’s not think about that when we eat these. That’s not a good look.

Love you, per usual. Have a good week.

Zucchini Cheddar Drop Biscuits

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Makes 15 biscuits

3/4 cup zucchini, shredded (about 1 small zucchini)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
1 cup grated cheddar
2 1/2 cups of flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 stick butter, cold and cubed
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).

Shred the zucchini. Using a cheese cloth, add the zucchini to the center and squeeze all of the excess water out. Transfer to a small bowl and add 1/2 teaspoon salt and a dash of flour. Mix and let stand for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt. Working quickly, add the cubed butter and break up with your hands until they’re the size of small peas.

Add the milk, zucchini and cheddar until moistened. Drop batter, using two tablespoons, on a baking sheet lined with parchment.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until edges are golden brown. Serve warm with pat of butter.

I keep notebooks. Do you keep notebooks? Where else am I supposed to keep random thoughts? I can’t post EVERYTHING that’s going on in my brain on Twitter. That’d be just wrong. And scary.

So I keep notebooks. Despite the weirdness (and embarrassment) of what goes on in my brain, I’m not too worried about someone finding them–since they’re nearly impossible to read. My typically neat and girly handwriting transforms into incomprehensible scribble, pages are re-used over and over, and the entire thing reads like one strange grocery list.

It’s true, I like lists. Sunday morning I got up abnormally early (read: 7am)–which basically means I’m turning into my father–and I decided to just write stuff down. Stuff I like. Stuff I don’t like. Sort of simple, no? Yeah, nothing too deep; I’m not that complicated.

Current brain/feelings likes and dislikes are flowing like this:

1. Like: Making a list. Crossing it off. Completion is so satisfying. Succeeding at simple things just never gets old.
2. Dislike: Having that nagging thing on the list, not doing it and putting it on the next day’s list. Like, DMV stuff or basically anything that requires a call to someone that will involve being put on hold. When are we gonna be able to email the government, anybody?

3. Like: Eating chocolate, running, being hot…and then quenching a thirst. No better feeling.
4. Dislike: Sweating while standing still. I mean…I just have no patience for it. Who’s with me?

5. Likes: Jumping in a river. It just never gets old. I haven’t done it this summer but it’s almost to the point of necessary.
6. Dislikes: Being soaking wet from the rain and going into air conditioning. Grossiest. Feeling. Ever.

7. Like: Being on the verve. You know what I’m talking about. Having hope that good stuff is near. You’re energized. You’re hopeful. Everything feels positive. When days feel like this, life feels not just doable, but incredible.
8. Dislike: Regrets. I try really hard to be brave and just do…and say…as I want and feel. Regrets suck hardcore. So, together, let’s get some courage and jump. And if we fall…well, at least we tried, right? Cliche? Totally. But true.

5. Like: Firsts. First kisses. First dates. First long talks. First discoveries. Firsts are good. They’re new and shiny. Fresh and giddy. And just perfect.
6. Dislikes: Being reminded over and over that life is so incredibly complicated. And fragile. And complicated. And that people are complicated. And things are just never as easy as you want them to be. But complicated means interesting, right? So I’m not sure if this should be a like…or a dislike. Currently it’s a dislike. Maybe this will change. Maybe good stuff comes from complication. I dunno. This is a food blog. Not a life blog. But sometimes my notebooks aren’t good enough…so here you have…my thoughts.

And a frittata. I give you my random brain going-ons today…and this frittata. Aren’t you glad we’re friends?! I am.

This should be the part where I tell you how this frittata is easy-breezy, unlike life, but alas, I’m not. I’m just not gonna compare life to a frittata because it’d be insulting to my life. And to yours.

But I will say that this frittata is easy, delicious, different and feels like summer. And it’s definitely made its way onto my current “like” list.

xo
Adrianna

Squash Blossom Goat Cheese Frittata
Recipe adapted from Epicurious

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8 whole large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
4 oz. goat cheese, crumbled
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 small zucchini, diced
1 small yellow squash, diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 zucchini blossoms, ends and pistols removed

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, salt and pepper.

Preheat boiler.

Cook zucchini in oil in a 10-inch cast iron (or non-stick skillet) pan, over moderate heat, stirring until just tender, about 8 minutes. Pour egg mixture over zucchini and cook over moderately high heat, liftng up cooked egg around edges to let uncooked egg flow underneath, 3 to 5 minutes (top will still be moist).

Sprinkle top with remaining goat cheese and arrange blossoms evenly on top, pressing them in lightly.

Broil frittata 6 inches from heat until set, puffed and slightly bown, about 3 minutes.

Cool 3-5 minutes then loosen edges. Cut into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature.

I’m a child of the 90s. I grew up listening to Nirvana, Boys to Men, SWV and had Quicksilver t-shirts and wanted to wear Dickies like Gwen Stefani…you know the ones like in No Doubt’s video “I’m Just a Girl,” and of course in the sixth grade my favorite movie was Clueless. I even went so far as to ask my parents for her closet. Which by the way, is still incredible. Can you imagine what you could do nowadays with an iPad.  Best. Closet. Ever.

Anyway, so when a friend recommended Alcicia Silverstone’s book, The Kind Diet, I figured I’d give it a go.  I sat and read the first few chapters; it was informative, impactful, taught me things I never knew about veganism and the possibilities of it changing your health.



I felt kinda empowered and so for the next twenty minutes I started considering turning vegan. It kinda made sense. I’d been sufffering with allergies for a few months and maybe me eating dairy and meat had something to do with it. I love animals and don’t want to live a life hurting them. So I started to think; going through all the things I’d have to give up.

Chicken? Eh..I mean, I love buttermilk fried chicken, but I don’t eat it all that often and I could maybe live without it.

Steak, hamburgers, short ribs. Uhhh…I started to immediately mourn In-N-Out and the truffle burger from Umami Burger, which really deserves its own category of awesome–it’s life changing, really. BUT I could probably eat less burgers. My thighs would be grateful, though I am doing yoga everyday. Have I told you that? Whatevs. No big deal. I just work out or whatever.



And then fish, sushi, shrimp…LOBSTER! Ugh. This would also suck. But I mean, she has a cookbook–I’m sure she has some cool stuff in there that would help me forget about lobster drenched in salty butter. Or not.

I also figured maybe I’d even document my vegan journey on this said blog. Maybe I’d figure out how to make “cozy” and comforting vegan food. I dunno…I could like revolutionize vegan food. Who knows!

Then…I thought of cheese…and butter…and cheese…and cheese.



And then I remembered a slice of vegan cheese I had a few months ago that was seriously an insult to normal cheese because it’s nothing like it. They really shouldn’t even be able to use the word “cheese” on the packaging. Total insult.

I eat cheese with everything. If something kinda sucks, I put cheese on it and melt it. Voila! Problem solved. I’m not really sure if I’ve ever met a problem cheese couldn’t solve.

Heads of nations should bring melted cheese to their meetings. I bet we’d live in a more peaceful world. Seriously.



My favorite thing to pair cheese with is vegetables. It’s kinda like cheddar on broccoli…it’s only sorta healthy but all sorts of amazing.

So when I saw a recipe for Eggplant Parmesan, I decided to swap out the eggplant for zucchini because the devil made eggplant (along with raisins), in my humble opinion.



And it was incredible. Instead of being mushy and squishy, the zucchini held up nicely. The zucchini was soft on the outside but when you bit through it there was a good amount of crunchiness going on. It was topped with marinara sauce, cheese, basil and more cheese.

When it came out of the oven, the cheese was all melty and delicious. The only regret I have was not scooping this over a bowl of pasta. It’d be a great way to jazz up some noodles. Or if you wanted to have a lighter dinner, you could pair it with a salad.

Oh I guess you figured I couldn’t do the vegan thing. I just love cheese that much.













Zucchini Parmesan

Recipe adapted from Goop by Giancarlo Giametti

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Yields 4

3-4 zucchini

Coarse salt

1 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour

Olive oil

2/3 cup of your favorite tomato sauce*

1 large ball fresh mozzarella (about 4 1/2 ounces)

Small handful of basil leaves, roughly torn

3/4 cup finely grated parmesan (about 2 ounces)

Slice the zucchini into about 1/3″ discs. Sprinkle slices with a small pinch of coarse salt on each side.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Lightly dredge the zucchini slices in the flour. Heat 1/4″ of olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. When a pinch of flour sizzles on contact, add the zucchini slices in a single layer, turn the heat to medium-high and cook for about one and a half minutes on each side or until dark golden brown. Drain the zucchini on paper towels and repeat in batches until all of your zucchini it is cooked, adding more oil as necessary.

In a 13″ x 9″ baking dish (or cast iron skillet), arrange as many slices of zucchini as can fit snugly in a single layer. Top each slice with a small spoonful of tomato sauce, a few small pieces of torn mozzarella, a bit of basil and a dusting of parmesan. Continue the layers, evenly distributing all the ingredients, until everything is used up.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the cheese is melting and bubbling and the house smells divine

Ever notice how certain events seem to occur in multiples? Like, how the film industry will put out two movies about deadly volcanoes in the same month, or how Michael Jackson died on the same day as Farrah Fawcett? It seems that the same phenomenon often occurs in the blogging world. Granted, there are a million blogs out there and it shouldn’t be unusual for us to all have some of the same recipes in mind, but really, is it that hard for us all to just post them at different times?

That brings me to my current post. Now, zucchini is one of my favorite veggies, and in true Southern fashion I feel that one way to make your vegetables even better is to fry them. I cooked a big batch of these fritters, ate them all that afternoon and felt content that I had found something tasty and unique to share with you all.

Then, I went to my computer the next morning and saw this post on zucchini pancakes by Joy the Baker.  Totally stole my thunder. I’m already using a recipe from another blog, so I was worried this might be some sort of trifecta of overexposure of a recipe idea. Not that any one blogger has a claim over recipe posts, but I worry that people who might read a lot of blogs wouldn’t be excited to read about the same thing again. But you know what? These fritters are awesome. And zucchini, as a rule, is awesome, (as spoken by a true food geek) so I figure that the world can use another recipe and another reminder to give some zucchini fritter/pancakes a try.

Zucchini Fritters with Goat Cheese

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Adapted from Simply Recipes

1 lb of zucchini (2 medium sized)
1 large egg
2 scallions, finely chopped
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3oz goat cheese
1/2 cup olive oil
Sour cream or plain yogurt

Coursely grate the zucchini and then sprinkle with salt.  Try to remove as much moisture from the zucchini as possible. I squeezed the zucchini with a clean dish towel, and then set it in a colander lined with paper towels for 10 minutes after that.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg and then add the zucchini, flour, scallions, and some fresh cracked pepper. Crumble in the goat cheese, and mix well to combine.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the fritters in batches by spooning the mixture into the skillet in amounts measuring roughly 2 tablespoons. Flatten the mounds slightly with your spatula once they’re in the pan. Cook, turning once, until browned, 4-6 minutes on each side or until they have become dark brown and crispy. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.

Serve immediately, with sour cream or plain yogurt on the side or spooned on top of it in a tasty, crispy, gooey mess.