When I'm shopping for food, I look at how yummy they look, then at the prices. I find things that I love and bring them home. That's the first step to me deciding what I'm going to make, but the when I get most of my ideas is when I'm cleaning out the refrigerator hahaha. Every three to four days, I go through what's in there, just to get an idea of what I have left, and ideas just start popping into my head.
This time I found the bag of baby carrots we had originally bought for Easter dinner (at the next store we found the matchstick ones we needed and I still hadn't decided what I wanted to do with these yummy little snacks.
I had remembered that, in a couple of places online, I had skimmed through some recipes for carrot latkes and they had sounded yummy, so I decided to experiment and create my own.
Almost a 10 ounce bag of baby carrots (I say "almost" because it is very hard for me to not munch on a few when I'm cooking with them)
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
6 green onions, diced
1/4 onion
4 cloves garlic
1 1/2 cups panko breadcrumbs
2 large eggs
1/4 cup shaved parmesan cheese
6 tablespoons olive oil
Using a food processor, cut the carrots up into very small pieces. Put them into a bowl that's big enough to hold all the ingredients in the end. Then put the garlic and 1/4 onion into the food processor and cut them up into small pieces as well. Add garlic onion mixture, diced green onion, parsley and parmesan cheese to the carrots in the bowl.
In another bowl, mix together the panko and eggs. When combined, mix it together with the carrot mixture in the large bowl with a rubber spatula, making sure to get everything mixed up good.
Form the mixture into patties, kind of like you would make a hamburg, making sure that they are a little flat. Spray pan or add oil to a pan on medium heat. Fry the latkes for about 6 minutes per side, until they are brown and crisp.
Note: I sprayed my pan instead of using oil so some of my latkes fell apart a little bit. Next time I may try a little olive oil instead. (My mom suggested I add mashed potatoes to keep them together haha. I think that's because she REALLY likes potato latkes and wants us to come to a middle ground on these.)
I served them in a set of three on a bed of fresh spinach leaves with a little sour cream in between and some green onions, fresh parsley and shaved parmesan cheese on top. They were delicious and very flavorful.
The fried zucchini was very easy.
All you need is 2-3 zucchinis, some oil and some coarse sea salt. Cut the zucchini in half and then down the middle. Cut each slice into about 4 or 5 (maybe more depending on size) pieces and put them in a bowl. Sprinkle them with salt and let them sit for 30 minutes (this is important because it draws some of the water out of the vegetable and makes it easier to fry). Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat (I had it at a depth of about 1 inch). Add the zucchini and fry until the pieces turn a golden brown. Put onto a paper towel so they can drain and sprinkle with sea salt. Serve them warm.
Note: They take a little longer to cook then I had expected, but worked well when I started them a few minutes before I started cooking the latkes. Turned out delicious.
Served the carrot latkes and fried zucchini with a fresh tomato and zucchini salad. For dessert, we had a lovely fruit salad. A great meal that left us full without a lot of calories or carbohydrates.
