Parmesan Crusted Baked Zucchini Sticks with Marinara Sauce

Back in the beginning of August when I was hosting a dinner for neighbors who had returned to the US, I executed a bunch of new recipes. One of the apps I made is this one. I loved the idea of baking a zucchini stick appetizer. I actually followed this recipe 100& and it turned out really tasty. The only problem I encountered was keeping the breading on the sticks. The egg that is used for dredging doesn't stick very well to zucchini and even less when you have skin on the stick. I mashed it in a bit and it worked pretty well. I'd make this again.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used panko)
1/2 cup parmigiano reggiano (grated)
1 teaspoon oregano
1 pound zucchini/courgettes (sliced into sticks and pat dry)
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg (lightly beaten)

Directions:

1. Mix the bread crumbs, parmigiano reggiano and oregano in a bowl.
2. Season the zucchini with salt and pepper.
3. Dip the zucchini in the egg and then dredge in the bread crumb mixture.
4. Place the zucchini on a baking sheet in a single layer with the skin side down.
5. Bake in a preheated 425F oven until golden brown, about 20-25 minutes.

http://closetcooking.blogspot.com/2009/02/parmesan-crusted-baked-zucchini-sticks.html

What to do with 4 1/2 # of Zucchini?

One of my neighbors was going out of town last weekend and needed to unload some of her abundance of homegrown vegetables. When presented with over four pounds of zucchini, the first recipe that popped into my head was zucchini bread. I've had two zucchini bread recipes sitting in my recipe book for a long time. It was time to try them both out and have a taste test. But...things didn't go as expected.

The first loaves of bread I baked looked delicious. I took a recipe from allrecipes.com that got rave reviews. It turned out to be too cakey in consistency and too mild in flavor for my liking. The second recipe came out of one my Mother-in-Law's recipe books. Although the second batch had more flavor, it lacked the moistness of the first batch. My son loved then both, so it wasn't a total waste.

Overall, I wasn't impressed by either recipe so I decided not to share any to my neighbor who was kind enough to give me the zucchini in the first place.