We had some nice zucchini left over from Charles's pasta-less lasagne, so I decided to make one of my favorite things, Zucchini Bread. I used a recipe from the Tartine Bakery Cookbook, which is quickly becoming my favorite tome for baked goods. It's a pretty classic recipe, with the addition of Orange Marmalade in the batter (which we had left over from a chicken recipe around the holidays), giving it an sublte, unexpected tang.
I love how sprinkling sugar on the top before baking yields a wonderfully cracked crust on top.
Then I was left with a bunch of shredded zucchini, so I racked my brain for something to make with it. I had remembered how much we enjoyed eating latkes during Hanukkah at the home of one of Charles's clients, and I thought - that's it, I will make Zucchini Fritters! All the taste, not nearly all of the carbs of our favorite potato pancakes. I used a recipe from my new Mark Bittman cookbook, "How to Cook Everything", and then added a really easy roasted pepper sauce that I saw on Rachel Ray (god, how I hate her, I even hated typing her name just now! I am NOT including a link to her site! Damn her and her recipes that are easy and taste really good! *spits*)
They were relatively easy, and soooo delicious! The leftover ones were easy to store and re-heat in the microwave - perfect for lunch the next day. I made a Baby Arugula salad with a simple lemon, olive oil and Dijon mustard vinaigrette, Portobello mushroom scrambled eggs, and the fritters. The sauce was fantastic on the eggs as well.
I could get used to this - veggies are FUN!
