Hello lovelies, when three zucchini suddenly appear on the kitchen counter at the end of July that nobody ordered, the summer zucchini glut has struck again. My favourite answer to it is these crispy baked zucchini fries with wasabi mayo: long batons in a coarse panko parmesan coating, baked until golden, with a wasabi mayonnaise alongside that wakes up the whole plate. At our house they sit in the middle of the table and get eaten with fingers until the bowl is empty.
The wasabi mayonnaise isn't a side note here, it's the actual reason for the recipe. Mayonnaise, a spoonful of sour cream, lime juice and half to one teaspoon of wasabi paste, that's all it takes. The heat arrives a couple of seconds late, climbs briefly into your nose and vanishes just as quickly, and then your hand reaches for the next fry all by itself. Start with half a teaspoon and taste again, because wasabi keeps developing in the bowl for a few more minutes.
For the coating I use coarse panko instead of fine breadcrumbs. Panko stays airy in the oven and shatters properly, while fine crumbs form nothing more than a thin skin on the vegetable. Grated parmesan, garlic powder and oregano go in with it, and I season the eggs with salt, pepper and paprika beforehand so the batons bring flavour from the inside too.
The oven runs at 220°C (428°F) and the tray is lined with baking paper. All that matters is that the batons lie next to each other with a little space and never stack up, otherwise they steam one another soft. Halfway through the baking time I turn them once, and then they go golden all over. If you like, brush or spray them thinly with oil beforehand – that is the difference between crisp and pale.
One last trick from many attempts: zucchini is more than 90 percent water. When I have time, I salt the cut batons lightly, let them sit in a colander for 20 minutes and then pat them thoroughly dry with kitchen paper. The result is noticeably crispier. And when things need to move fast, a good pat-dry on its own will do.
I hope this rescues your next glut of zucchini as happily as it does ours. If you've got a taste for crispy vegetables now, do try my Kohlrabi parmesan fries and the Kohlrabi sesame schnitzel, which both come from exactly the same corner of my kitchen. And if you'd like a second punchy dip on the sharing table, stir up my Edamame hummus alongside – that makes the summer evening complete.
