Abandoned Edibles*
Zucchini; Cherry Tomatoes
(additional ingredients: tempura batter, beer, canola oil, spinach, fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, butter, eggs, lemon juice, salt, spices, etc.)
* NOTE: these foods were not 'abandoned', but rather kindly given to me by talented friends who GREW them in their home gardens! A shout out and MAHALO to Mz. Jackie M and Ms. Emily M for sharing their delicious veggies.
What I did: my oh my, I sure do LOVE the end of summer. So many delicious fruits and vegetables are in season! I was lucky enough to be gifted with zucchini and cherry tomatoes from two friends the other day, and I must confess: fried zucchini is one of my FAVORITE foods...especially when you pair it with smooth, luxurious, artery-clogging hollandaise sauce for dipping! You just can't go wrong!
This was a pretty simple meal to make. First, I made sure to sweat my zucchini after cutting them up (as I learned when I made my fried eggplant dish last year, sweating veggies such as eggplant, cucumbers, and zucchini make them less soggy) before I started frying. While the zucs were sweating, I made a batter...and I'll confess something here...I have found the perfect batter balance. I use this brand of pre-packaged tempura mix, but I substitute 3/4 of the water called for with BEER instead when making it, and let me tell you--the results are delicious. A tempura/beer battered hybrid. Oh yeah. Oh yeeeeeeaaaaaaah! It IS as good as it sounds...trust me.
At any rate, once the zucchinis were done sweating, I rinsed them (a vital step), patted them dry, dipped them in my tempura batter, and fried them right up. Once they were done I made a quick 'easy' hollandaise sauce (1 stick of butter melted, add in 3 beaten eggs on super low heat, add in lemon juice, whisk whisk whisk until it thickens!), threw together a salad of spinach, mozzarella, prosciutto, and cherry tomatoes, and viola: dinner was served!
The Verdict
Oh, SO delicious...I could just die! Seriously I LOVE fried zucchini with hollandaise. And the salad...those delicious little tomatoes with fresh mozzarella...it was just perfect. One thing of note, however--since I cheated when I made the hollandaise sauce, and made an 'easy' version, the sauce ended up much lighter and fluffier than a typical hollandaise would normally be. This of course is attributed to the egg WHITES that were included in addition to the yolks...and you know what? It actually worked out better, see as how the hollandaise was used for dipping (and not, say, smothered over a poached egg on an english muffin). Just look how it coats and clings to the zucchini chip so perfectly:
Nice, right? I think I'll use this 'easy' hollandaise route from here on out! I never liked separating eggs much, anyway.
Taste: 9
Apperance: 8
Creativity: 4
Improvements for next time: you can't improve perfection, dahling! And fried zucchini + hollandaise sauce IS perfection. Simple, easy, and delicious--and simply the BEST.
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