I wasn’t planning on having a Parmesan-crusted theme dinner
this evening, but sometimes that’s just what happens. For me it started with a
recipe for
Zucchini Oven Chips from
Cooking Light. This is one of my favorite
ways to use zucchini.
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Oven Zucchini Chips |
I made the recipe as noted, except I used buttermilk instead
of milk, since I happened to have a leftover carton in the refrigerator from a
weekend batch of buckwheat pancakes. When they were done, they taste tender on
the inside and crispy on the outside and so good you would think they were deep
fried.
But before I got there, I had about a half cup of leftover
breadcrumb, Parmesan, salt and pepper breading left over. I didn’t want to
throw it away and that’s what would likely happen to it even if I saved it for
a few weeks in the refrigerator. Instead of dumping it, I decided to make baked
tomatoes with it. I added a little dried basil to the mix and cut a tomato in
half before pouring the leftover breading on top. To add a little moisture, I
poured a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar on top. I slipped them in the
oven to cook alongside the zucchini. When they were done, they were the perfect
combination of the tart, cooked tomato and the crunchy topping.
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Baked tomatoes, the black is balsamic vinegar |
The zucchini and the tomato would need about a half hour to
cook, so I turned my attention to the bag of beans in the crisper. Similar to
green beans, I had received flat Romano beans in my box last week. I had
received them in previous years and the Two Onion newsletter reminded me that I
could use them similarly to other green beans, but that they may require a
longer cooking time.
For these I decided to adapt a recipe I came upon this morning in
the gym while reading my Oprah magazine. Ina Garten's Green Beans Gremolata recipe
looked good as is, but I needed to adjust it a bit to adapt for what I had in
my pantry. Instead of topping beans with pine nuts, garlic, Parmesan, parsley and
lemon juice, my beans were tossed with pecans, garlic and Parmesan.
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Romano beans with pecans, Parmesan and garlic |
The final result was amazing. I still may make the Barefoot
Contessa’s some other time, but my combination wasn’t too bad either. I forgot
to weight the beans, but guess I had less than a full pound. I still used two
cloves of garlic, so they were garlicky, but really good.
Surprisingly or not, all three dishes worked together. Though they
had most of the same ingredients (especially the zucchini and the tomato) they
tasted different enough. And since they did have a lot of the same ingredients
they didn’t compete with each other.
So the next time an ingredient speaks to you, go for it. You may just end up having a theme dinner you didn't plan on.
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Is it me or does this bean look like a bird? |