Crispy Baked Trio: Mozza, Pickle, Zucch!

Super Bowl Sunday Extravaganza!

It has officially been one year since my first published recipe! In honour of this, and the Super Bowl happening today, here is a revamped version of one of my favourite originals - a “deep fried” style item, baked in the oven. You can achieve this by making a simple wet batter, dredging your item and then coating it in a crispy breadcrumb medley. Place everything on a rack that is sitting on a baking sheet and you’re on your way to having one heck of a Super Bowl party.

My original recipe was for pickle spears but a recipe this easy and delicious deserves to have its own trio! Don’t tell me there’s anything better on game day than a platter of homemade mozzarella sticks, crispy zucchini fries and crunchy tangy dill pickle spears. Never complete without a fresh dipping sauce, which I’ve also included.

Ingredients

Batter

In a large bowl, combine your wet batter:

• 1 cup flour

• 1 cup milk

• 1 egg

• 1 tbsp cajun seasoning or your favourite spice blend

Breading

In a food processor, pulse to combine dry breading:

• 1 cup panko

• 1 cup of cornflake crumb, flavoured triscuit or your favourite breadcrumb

• 2 tsp oregano

• 2 tsp garlic powder

Transfer to a bowl.

Star Players

• 12 Mozzarella sticks (block of mozzarella, cut into 12 small rectangles)

• 12 Pickle Spears (3 large pickles, cut into quarters)

• 2 Zucchinis (Cut into medium sized wedge fries)

Greek Yogurt Tzatziki

• 3/4 cup Greek Yogurt

• 3 tbsp lemon juice

• 1 garlic clove

• Pinch of Salt

• 1/4 cup grated cucumber, set in salt for a few minutes and squeezed of its excess liquid

• 1/8 cup fresh herbs, dill and parsley

Combine and brush items before baking with:

• 1/2 cup melted butter

• 1/4 cup olive oil

Instructions

Once our zucchini is cut, coat them liberally in salt. Toss and let them sit for 10 minutes. The salt will extract the excess moisture. Lay them on a few layers of paper towels and wring them out of their excess water by patting and pressing on them. Repeat until towels are no longer soaking wet.

Preheat oven to 375°C.

Prepare your baking sheet by placing a cooling rack over it and spraying/coating it with oil.

It’s time to dredge and coat your ingredients. Your hands will get messy but I promise its worth it, and don’t worry if they aren’t perfect!

Dredge each ingredients in your wet batter first, using your left hand.

Using your right hand, coat in breadcrumbs.

Place directly on your prepared rack.

Repeat until your baking sheet is full. You may need to do a few batches unless you have a giant baking sheet. If that’s the case, dredge 3-4 of each item. This will give you variety on your first batch and your guests (and you) can start digging in while the rest of it cooks.

Brush with butter and oil mixture before baking and bake for 25 minutes until golden brown.

Bonne Bouffe!

Veronique