Saturday, August 21, 2010

Oven Dried Zucchini Chips

Zucchini.

We grill it, saute it, chop it, pickle it, sweeten it for muffins and cakes, and give tons of it away.

Honestly, I'm just as tired of it as everyone else.  You grow it because it's easy, you buy it because you feel you have to and you throw it away because you simply can't take it anymore.

I get more requests for zucchini recipes then any other vegetable, and it's always...."what ELSE can I do with Zucchini?" Then comes the sigh and the look of total boredom.  I fee your pain, I feel your pain.

I recently decided to "oven dry" zucchini after reading a blurb by chef/instructor John Ash, where he discusses the idea of oven drying vegetables the way we do summer tomatoes.  He suggests drying them (in addition to cauliflower, beets, carrots, even olives) to a nice concentrated chewy consistency of 70-80% dry.  It sounded good to me, so I gave it a try.

My first batch worked well, and it had a nice chewy texture. My second batch, well, I forgot them and they came out as chips.  I promptly tasted them and ate all three sheet pans (3 whole zucchini!).  Love these!! Well, as much as one can love a zucchini.....


Oven Dried Zucchini Chips

2-3 Zucchini, green or golden, washed and sliced thinly (about the thickness of a quarter)
Olive oil
Salt or seasoned salt (Savory Spice shop has some great ones)
Pepper

Line a few sheet pans with Parchment paper (not waxed paper)

Preheat oven to 250 Degrees F.

Line parchment with Zucchini coins, and lightly (very very lightly) brush or mist One side of the vegetables with Olive oil. Sprinkle lightly with salt and fresh ground pepper.  

Place sheet pan in the oven for approximately, 30-45 minutes, then rotate the pan, and continue to dry for an additional 30-45 minutes, until your zucchini is crisp. Taste, and adjust your seasonings.

Note: your oven my cook these faster or they may take longer.. It's okay to pull the ones that dry more quickly, out before the rest are done. The chips do not store very well. ( But then we keep eating them  all straight out of the oven, so you may have to let me know if they CAN be stored.) 

Enjoy and see you at the Market!

Chef Deb



7 comments:

Kimberly Kay said...

I am trying this tonight!!!

Anonymous said...

I made these yesterday and am still eating them!
On one batch I used smoked salt. My favorite was the batch with Penzy's black and red, a mixture of black pepper and cayenne. Cathy

Chef Deb T said...

See, they are good!

Alicia said...

Have you since tried to store them for any length of time?

I just made some with Mrs. Dash no salt Southwestern Chipoltle, YUM! ;)

I'd like to pack some in a ziploc bag and take them with me to the movies, but wondering if they lose their crispness after awhile?

brthomas said...

Liquid sauces can also be used to make many flavors of spicy zucchini snack chips.

Unknown said...

i suggest cellophane bags.43

Amellia said...

I have used a food dehydrator to do this before and they are great. I keep them in the freezer to keep them fresh. I have some in there for a year and they are still good. I also eat them as chips but also throw them in when I'm cooing. Soups, pasta sauce, mashed potatoes ect...