Clara’s Courgette Oven Fries

A very very special recipe to commemorate my bucket loads of gratitude, love and respect for Clara Loizzo - a professional educator based in Nice 🇫🇷 who has been enthusiastically cooking most of my recipes for past two years - translating my recipes to French, printing those out to refer while cooking, hunting down specialty ingredients to try out my whimsical creations and sending me sweet note of appreciation after trying out the dish. Isn’t she the best?!

On several occasions, I would post a recipe feeling proud of creating something special and secretly wishing at least one person should make it to know what I mean - and that one person has always been Clara ♥️

Last summer, to honor her birthday and her love for Courgettes and Cumin … I created these Masa Harina Crusted Zucchini Fries baked in oven and spiked with toasted Cumin seeds and Chaat Masala. We usually have it with curry ketchup but any hot sauce or Garlic Aioli will be awesome!

Ingredients (serves 2-4 as side)

620g Courgette / Zucchini, cut into thick batons about 1/2” thick and 2-2.5” long

3 tbsp Chickpea Flour (substitute with regular White Rice Flour)

2 tbsp Masa Harina (substitute with Cornmeal)

1 tbsp Cornstarch or Cornflour

3/4 tsp Ground Turmeric

3/4-1 tsp Chaat Masala

2 tsp Toasted cumin Seeds, lightly crushed

1 tsp Kashmiri Chili Powder 

Pinch of salt

96ml Neutral Oil (little more than 6 tbsp)

Lemon and chopped fresh herbs such as cilantro / parsley / basil for serving

Directions

💥Pre-heat oven to 425F (230C) and line 2 baking sheets with parchment. In a large bowl, combine courgette / zucchini batons with everything. Toss until all the batons are well coated

💥Transfer the coated batons onto the prepared baking sheets (skin side down). Make sure not to crowd

💥Bake for 35-38 mins or until outside looks deeply golden and crisp. Transfer into a lipped platter, finish it with generous squeeze of lemon and some sprinkling of fresh herbs of your choice. Enjoy with some nice crisp white or Rosé

Blistered Baby Carrots with Soy Butter, Lime and Shichimi

Sticky, sweet, salty and super smoky. These baby carrots definitely hit the Umami Jackpot! Friends from the US, if you haven’t yet discovered those Les Petit Carrots of Many Colors at Trader Joe’s then I urge you to run and pick up a bag stat! Hands down one of my top 5 TJ products. The technique of making the soy butter and pairing with lime can be used in other vegetables or even for Egg on Toast.

*I eat it with some sticky rice, roasted nori and silken tofu but feel free to stuff in a sandwich wrap or serve as a small plate in a dinner party spread.

Ingredients (serves 4 as a side)
1 lb Baby Carrots, whole & peeled
2.5 tbsp Vegan Butter (substitute with regular Unsalted Butter if not keeping vegan)
1 small garlic clove, grated or crushed
1 tbsp + 1 tsp Dark Soy Sauce (substitute Tamari or Coco Aminos)
1 tbsp Maple Syrup
1/2 tbsp Mirin
1.5 tsp Rice Wine Vinegar
Zest and juice of 1/2 Large Lime

1 tsp Shichimi Togarashi (substitute with 1/2 tsp chile flakes + 1/4 tsp+ toasted black sesame seeds + 1/2 tsp crushed toasted Nori)
1-2 tsp Roasted Sesame Seeds

1 tsp Finely chopped cilantro or scallion greens for garnish

Directions
🥕 Bring a large pot of water to boil, add carrots and let them boil/cook for 13-15 mins or until tender but firm enough to hold shape. Drain and keep it aside

🥕 Melt butter in a large skillet, then add garlic. Fry for 45 sec then add soy sauce, using a whisk or spatula keep stirring on medium or low heat so that it’s well emulsified. Immediately add carrots and turn off heat. Coat the carrots well with soy butter, then blow torch thoroughly so that it has black patches all over and very smoky. If not using blow torch then transfer into a baking dish and put it under grill / broiler for 2-4 mins while giving it shakes in every minute

🥕 Transfer the carrots onto a platter reserving the buttery juices. Now transfer those juices into a microwave safe bowl, add maple syrup, mirin, vinegar and lime juice into that. Give it a good whisk & microwave for 30-45 seconds and pour this concoction on top of the carrots.

🥕 Finish with lime zest, shichimi, sesame seeds & greens. Serve at room temp or straight away! Highly recommend alongside a sushi or soba noodle dinner spread.