Crumbed Zucchini & Eggplant

We currently have more zucchinis coming out of our new veggie patch than we know what to do with!  I've made lots of wholemeal zucchini pancakes for my little boys and stocked the freezer full of them ready for lunches on the go. I've also made a few yummy pasta dishes with them. My favourite being pan fried sliced zucchinis with crushed garlic, lemon juice, mint, basil and goats fetta.

This is a dish that I ate when we were travelling around Italy. The best ones we had I remember vividly; it was a gorgeous sunny Sunday morning in a town called Todi in the Umbria region.

I am lucky enough to have an Italian mother in law who also makes these. She knows that whenever I arrive at her place and there is a plate of these freshly made, that I will devour them, even instead of her freshly baked cake - these are THAT good!

Here is my version.  Apologies that this is more of a direction of how to make these rather than an actual, accurate recipe!

• Thickly slice eggplants and or large zucchinis.  If the eggplant is homegrown or very fresh and young, I don't bother salting them as they won't be bitter.  (I sliced up about 1 large green zucchini, 2 small white zucchinis and 1 small eggplant for this batch of crumbed veg.  The extra zucchinis I roasted and pureed for my little boy.)

•  Gather 3 separate flat bowls or plates and put 3/4 cup of plain flour in one, 2 eggs in another and 2 cups of panko bread crumbs & 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese and ground pepper in the last. I didn't have enough of the breadcrumb mix for this many veggies - I probably needed another half a batch of the crumb mix to finish this amount of sliced veg.  

• Dip a slice of veg in to the flour

• Dip in to the egg - hold up to ensure any drips, drip out before you move on to the crumbs

• Place veg slice in to the breadcrumb mix and lightly pat crumbs on to all sides

• Repeat until you've finished all slices of veg

• In a large frypan, add enough olive oil to cover the bottom. Allow the oil to heat up quite a lot before you add pieces of the veg.  I used a small burner, but had it on high to cook the first side.

• Cook for approximately 3 minutes, depending on your pan, heat etc.  You're looking for a nice golden colour.

• Cook for about 1 minute and then turn the heat down to low and cover with a lid for about 2-3 minutes.  Keep a close eye on them at this stage though as you don't want them to burn!  Adding the lid helps to make sure the veg are cooked through and are lovely and soft inside.
• Drain on paper towel and repeat until you've finished the whole batch (adding extra oil to the pan as needed.)
• Season with sea salt for adults, or as is for the kids.

• Serve with a rocket salad, or this roast beetroot, walnut & goats cheese salad or in  bread roll with grated carrot, cheese and tomato or eat them on their own one at a time until they are all gone!

We are really enjoying having a veggie patch in full bloom at the moment! This is only our second summer of having a garden and last year it was very much trial and error!  My husband and 3 year old are in charge of growing the veg and my 3 year old and I are in charge of cooking it all! 

If anyone gets around to trying this, I'd love to hear how you go. Hope you enjoy it!

Love Amy xoxo