They looked so good: wholesome, family friendly, healthy, fun. . .
They were a royal PITA.
1 cups zucchini, grated
1 egg
1/4 yellow onion, diced
1/4 cup cheese (cheddar or Parmesan work the best)
1/4 cup bread crumbs – I used Italian style
Salt and Pepper
1. Preheat oven to 400F. Spray a mini-muffin tin with non-stick spray, set aside.
2. Grate the zucchini and then place in a dish towel to squeeze out the excess water- like when using frozen spinach; if you skip this part, the middle of the zucchini tots will be really soggy while the outside gets crispy and no one wants that.
3. In a bowl combine, the egg, onion, cheese, bread crumbs, zucchini, salt and pepper.
4. Using a spoon or a cookie scoop, fill the muffin cups to the top. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the top is browned and set.
They looked so good I made a double batch.
I used my handy-dandy mini food processor to grate my zucchini early in the day — so simple. I headed the warning about the *really soggy* mess and drained the zucchini pulp on paper towels for hours in the fridge then squeezed the living tar out of it before mixing.
Apparently not nearly enough.
I used cheddar cheese (you can never have too much cheddar) and followed the recipe exactly.
They smelled divine cooking. My tummy rumbled.
I got this:
They suck to the pan, the insides were complete mush, and there was not a hint of *totness* anywhere in my kitchen even after I baked them ten minutes longer than called for.
I can only assume I didn’t squeeze hard enough or I had some really damn juicy ‘chinnis.
They DID taste divine, and I piled the mess onto our plates. Even the kid said it was yummy. It tasted just like squash casserole to me — pretty much the same thing, so next time I’ll just make the much less time consuming casserole.
Oh, and the pan. . . it took two days of soaking to get that darn non-stick pan clean.
