Fall Recipe: Zucchini Oven Fries with Pumpkin Mustard

When Ryan and I went to Columbus, Ohio at the end of August we tried eggplant fries at a restaurant. These particular eggplant fries weren't actually that good (too limp and greasy), but the idea of them inspired me to start thinking about making fries out of vegetables other than potatoes and sweet potatoes.

I let the idea percolate for a while, and it got mixed up in my late-summer zucchini obsession, which briefly overlaps my early-fall pumpkin obsession. The next thing I knew, I was whipping up a batch of these zucchini fries.

Ryan and I scarfed them down. He even devoured the pumpkin mustard, which I assumed he wouldn't so much as touch. They were officially declared a hit!

To give the fries a crispness reminiscent of, well, fries, I tossed them in an egg and then in some seasoned breadcrumbs before baking them. I only wish the breadcrumbs would have stuck better. I think you might be more successful if you shake them in a big zip-top bag, but I didn't have one, so I just rolled them around on a plate.

Ingredients:

3 medium zucchini

1 egg

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Your choice of seasonings (I used salt, black pepper, red pepper, oregano, and garlic powder.)

Cooking spray

2 tablespoons brown mustard

1 tablespoon pumpkin butter

1 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice

Step 01. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray.

Step 02. Slice zucchini into 1/4" strips, roughly the size and shape of fries.

Step 03. Mix seasonings and breadcrumbs. Toss zucchini in egg and then in seasoned breadcrumbs, working in batches if needed. Make sure to fetch the zucchini slices out of the egg with tongs and place them into the breadcrumbs, leaving the remaining egg behind. If you just pour all the egg into the breadcrumbs with the zucchini, it will be too wet.

Step 04. Spread the bread-crumb-coated zucchini on the cookie sheet in one layer. Bake for about 15 minutes.

Step 05. While the fries are baking, stir the pumpkin butter and pumpkin-pie spice into the brown mustard.