True confession…
My name is Mary Kay, and I just might be a recipe addict. Thankfully, this doesn’t appear to be a habit for which I really need to join a support group. (My husband might disagree.) It’s just one of the ways I like to spend my time, checking out other people’s ideas about what to cook and how to cook it. Upon which I can then put my own spin.
In retrospect, I come by this habit pretty honestly. When my parents bought their farm, the house was a typical old, drafty farmhouse. They might have been the originators of the open concept, as they would go on to renovate the kitchen and living areas, adding substantial space. One wall of the newly expanded living room consisted of upper display shelves for my mother’s knick-knacks, with the bottom being enclosed bookshelves. While books might have been the original intention, in actuality, piles upon piles of “women’s magazines” lived there. Magazines that were chock full of recipes. This is the closest my mother ever came to hoarding…but either of us could easily select an old issue to peruse, assured that if enough time had passed, we wouldn’t remember it!
I continue her collecting today, though I limit the number of accrued magazines by tearing out the recipes I really want to try, and recycling the remainder. (I live in a smaller house, okay?) Not to mention the fifty or so cookbooks I regularly refer to for inspiration. There’s always the library, and of course, the Internet is any true recipe addict’s dream come true!
Now, if one Googles the phrase “cook without recipes” a list of sites will pop up, because there are some who believe that not using recipes is the key to teaching our cooking illiterate populace to prepare food at home. The theory reasons that recipes, with their lists of required ingredients and steps, not to mention shopping, are intimidating. Particularly if one has to use a recipe for every dish being served at the meal.
A professor in my grad school program believed when children are learning to read, they need to understand that the printed word is simply “talk, written down.” Well, as I see it, recipes are just spoken instructions, written down. As you read them, just imagine the steps popping patiently, one by one, out of your grandmother’s mouth. Hopefully she was a good cook…
While I did learn general cooking principles working side-by-side with my mother, I would argue that many of the foods I prepare without a recipe today are simply the product of repetition; having made the item so many times I know the directions by heart. That said, it is easier to make a meal when only one or two dishes require referencing directions. And it certainly is helpful to be able to open the pantry and fridge, offer up a little prayer as to the contents, and cobble together a meal with what happens to be there.
With that, I offer my “recipe” for zucchini fries. Nobody at my house gets too fired up when I mention that the vegetable tonight is zucchini, with this one exception. These are nothing but breaded, seasoned zucchini sticks, baked until crisp. But as you read through the “recipe”, just imagine my voice is guiding you through the steps…
Baked Zucchini Fries
Ingredients
- 4 small young zucchini
- ¾ cup flour of choice gluten free is fine
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1 ½ cups bread cracker or nut crumbs
- Salt and pepper
- ½ teaspoon chopped rosemary
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
- Olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425° F.
- If you have a shallow rack, place it into a half sheet pan. If not, line the half sheet pan with parchment paper. Place the flour in a shallow dish and the beaten eggs in a second dish. In a third, combine the crumbs, pinch of salt and pepper, the rosemary and cayenne. Slice the zucchini into ½ inch sticks. Salt and pepper the slices. Dredge the zucchini slices in the flour, then roll them in the beaten eggs, then coat with the crumb mixture. Place on either the rack or parchment in the sheet pan. Drizzle slices lightly with olive oil. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown and tender.
