Baked courgette fries... We’re currently enjoying a continuous supply of courgettes (zucchini) from our little veg patch in the garden, and I’m always keen to find ways to get Joshua to eat them, so I thought I’d try making courgette fries. As with all great recipes, these are brilliant for adults too and we enjoyed at least half of the tray with a lemony yoghurt dip after Joshua had gone to bed. Similar to fish fingers, the overall process of coating and baking is pretty standard - other than that you can mix things up a bit by adding different ingredients to the crumb coating to change the texture, flavour, colour or nutrients, or just use whatever you have to hand in the house. You could try a vegan or egg-free version by dipping the courgette in plant milk rather than egg The basic ingredients are... 🥒 courgette 🌾plain flour 🥚 egg, beaten 🍞 crumb mix (see below) 🌻 a little oil, ideally sprayable To make... - cut the courgette into finger shaped fries ensuring that each fry has some skin on it (to help it retain its shape) - put the flour, egg and crumb mix into three separate bowls/plates - coat each piece of courgette in the flour, then dip into the egg, then coat in the crumb mix - place on a lightly oiled baking tray and spray/drizzle with oil - bake in the oven at 180’C for approx 15mins, turning halfway, until crisp and golden Eat fresh, refrigerate or freeze. Reheat in the oven before serving from cold or frozen. Ideas for the crumb mix... - breadcrumbs, panko breadcrumbs - crushed cornflakes, rice crispies, oat cheerios - crushed breadsticks - blitzed up oats, dried polenta, ground almonds - finely grated Parmesan - finely chopped or dried herbs such as rosemary, parsley, oregano, lemon zest - flax seeds, chia seeds - add extra colour and flavour with ground paprika, pepper, turmeric, garlic, chilli etc (My version was made with ground almonds, crushed breadsticks, crushed Cheerios, flax seeds, grated Parmesan and chopped rosemary as I had no breadcrumbs to hand)
