Transitioning
into the Pacific Northwest mode after our weeks in Mexico has been an
interesting challenge. You know, there is that time between the feeling of
being completely settled back into your regular routine and the feeling of bittersweet
nostalgia for carefree vacation days that are now neatly transformed into the
hundreds of photos on your hard drive… Such time always makes me look back at the
things and experiences that brought me to where I am today. Naturally, I start thinking about food.
Having lived
“on a rock” for seven years, I have gone through major ups and downs related to
my island life and my becoming a wife, a stepmom, and a mother. Over these
years I’ve found that the best therapy, outlet, and cure, if you wish, for
whatever ails my rambling brain and tired body is cooking.
I wish I could
say that I loved cooking and food since I was child, learning to appreciate the
subtle flavors of Belarusian cuisine on my grandmother knee, but… I did not. I
have never been crazy about cooking or food.
I was a picky eater when I was a child. In fact, I did not like to eat
and felt like it was such a chore. Only
after I entered a linguistics program at a Belarusian university and started
living on my own, I became interested in food. I was hungry and I had a
roommate who had heaps of food sent to her from her parents (yes, in Belarus,
parents send you care-packages filled with goodies and groceries), but who
absolutely did not want to do anything with it. So, I started to experiment
with the staples like borsch (a hot beet soup), boiled potatoes and pork
cutlets, and fish with onions and, ahem, cheese… Luckily, my roommate was a grateful eater and
a kind critic.
My true
passion for cooking, however, was born out of long and lonely days at home during the first post-immigration years. I was
alone in our tiny house in the woods. I could not drive a car, I was waiting
for the immigration papers to clear, and I was completely lost. My whole
universe shifted three hundred and sixty degrees. I finally was together with
the man I loved in a home that he built for us, but I was not prepared for the
solitude of my island days where silence could be very loud.
The remedy
came from The Food Network Channel that back then (now almost seven years ago) aired
Paula Dean, Giada DeLaurentis, and Michael Chiarello pretty much non-stop. I
spent hours watching their shows until I finally was brave enough to write down
the first recipe for Panko and Parmesan-Crusted Zucchini by Giada. Slowly, it
dawned on me that I actually could try to create those sophisticated dishes
and, most importantly, find the necessary ingredients for them at a local
grocery store.
You see, as a
young adult, I have encountered several Belarusian or Russian cookbooks that
often had at least two or three unattainable ingredients or surprisingly inaccurate
measurements which meant that any recipe could become an insurmountable
challenge and a most certain road to disappointment. In fact, I remember when I
was growing up, my mom, an excellent cook, would rarely consult a cookbook or
even a magazine clipping when she cooked.
Most of the time, she used the recipes passed down to her by my
grandmothers or by her friends whose cooking she really liked. In other words,
Russian cookbooks of the past did not seem to connect with the reality of
cooking and the shortages of even basic staples. They were just “sketches” for real cooking, the kind that often meant stretching
a piece of chicken for an entire family dinner or using only salt and pepper for
seasoning. Things have changed since. Today you may find a slew of
sophisticated recipe books and magazines with the most delightful recipes that
work at any Belarusian book store, but the challenge of finding the right
ingredients remains prominent as an average family often has to survive on about
five hundred dollars a month…
Having
overcome my preconceived notions of recipes and cookbooks, I braved the first
dishes in my island kitchen during the second year of my post-immigration life.
Giada DeLaurentis’ Zucchini with Parmesan
was one of these dishes. When I feel especially lonely for those first days of
cooking experiments, I revisit some of my ‘old’ recipes.
That time, I
had a nice piece of Dubliner cheese on hand, two zucchinis that desperately
needed to be used, and some leftover panko (Japanese breadcrumbs), so I pulled out
a large sauté pan and travelled down the memory lane.
Note: Dubliner
is deliciously Irish cheese that combines the flavors of sharp cheddar, nutty
Parmesan, and subtly sweet Swiss. You may substitute Dubliner with any type of
hard cheese such as Parmesan, Pecorino Romano, Asiago, or even Gruyere.
Dubliner-
and Panko-Crusted Zucchini with Garlic Dip
Adapted
from the recipe by Giada DeLaurentis
Ingredients:
- 2 medium zucchini, cut into 3 inch long and ½ inch wide sticks
- 1 cup panko (Japanese Breadcrumbs)
- 1 ½ cup Dubliner cheese, finely grated
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- Olive oil or Canola oil for shallow frying
Special
Equipment:
- A deep-fry thermometer
To Make:
- Pour enough oil into a large sauté pan to reach a depth of about 1 inch. Heat the oil over medium heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 350 degrees F.
- In a large bowl stir Panko, Dubliner, and salt to blend.
- Whisk the eggs in another bowl to blend.
- Working in batches, dip the zucchini in the eggs to coat completely and allow the excess egg to drip back into the bowl.
- Coat the zucchini in the panko mixture, patting to adhere and coat completely. Place the zucchini strips on a baking sheet.
- When the oil is hot (350 F), working in small batches (about 5-6 strips at time), fry the zucchini sticks until they are golden brown, about 3-4 minutes, turning the sticks to ensure even frying.
- Using a slotted spoon, transfer the fried zucchini to paper towels and drain. Arrange the fried zucchini on a platter. Sprinkle with extra Dubliner cheese, if desired.
I like to serve
these zucchini sticks with my simple and quick Garlic Dip.
Garlic
Dip
Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoon mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 small garlic clove, minced very fine or put through the garlic press
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper, optional.
To Make:
Combine all
the ingredients and serve J.
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