Years and years ago, when my mom and kid sister (who was just twelve at the time; she’ll turn forty next month!) drove me out to Los Angeles to drop me off at college, one of the first restaurants we went to was a place called Hamburger Hamlet. It was delicious and while the restaurant offered a lot of different dishes, I actually did order a burger on that first trip there. Then my mom and sister left me at college and I decided to become a vegetarian for several years. Then I married a cattle rancher and that was all over. The end.
There you have it, folks. A Brief History of My Eating Habits, by Ree Drummond. Copyright 2014.
Anyway, despite my vegetarianism, I continued going to Hamburger Hamlet through the years, and one of my favorite things I always ordered (and my mom, sister, and I had ordered them during our first visit there) were their famous Zucchini Zircles—a platter of fried zucchini with a delicious sweet dipping sauce.
A few weeks ago, although I hadn’t been to Hamburger Hamlet in over twenty years, Zucchini Zircles popped into my mind and I wound up finding an official recipe for them after an internet search. I haven’t been able to get them out of my mind since, and yesterday after church, I finally whipped up a batch.
Here’s how to make Zucchini Zircles!
(I miss you, Hamburger Hamlet.)
First make the apricot dipping sauce: Add some pineapple juice to a blender.
Then add soy sauce…
And dry mustard.
The original recipe for the sauce actually called for “2 1/2 tablespoons” of mustard powder, which I did add…but boy, did it seem like a lot.
And it was kind of a lot. I think 1 tablespoon to 1 1/2 tablespoons would be great!
Whiz it around in the blender until it’s all mixed together.
But the key ingredient to the dipping sauce is apricot preserves!
Put some in a bowl…
Then pour in that crazy pineapple/soy/mustard concoction. Oh, and don’t be confused by the amount of this liquid: I made a mistake and used 1 cup of pineapple juice instead of the 1/2 cup the recipe called for. Once I realized it, I poured a bit of the liquid out.
Then I mixed it all together and popped it in the fridge! As with any mixture like this, if you give it a little time in the fridge, the flavors will deepen and develop and all that jazz.
And now, for the breading for the zucchini, which is part of what makes them so ding dang delightful: Get three shallow dishes. Into one, pour some milk. And no, this isn’t egg nog. It’s only August and there’s no way I could find egg nog even if I wanted to. This is pure, white milk but my camera had a little bit of a hiccup and gave the milk a nice golden tinge. But instead of editing it and correcting the color balance of this photo, I instead decided to give you a boring explanation about why it looks like egg nog.
I’m glad we had this talk.
Into the second bowl, also known as the “next” bowl, add some flour. Simple enough!
And into the third bowl, also known as the “final” bowl, add some seasoned breadcrumbs. As in, I bought them seasoned. As in, I’m not ashamed!
Now, grab a zuke.
And slice it…
Into “circles like a poker chip, about twice the thickness of a silver dollar.”
I find that description very charming.
One by one, drop a slice into the flour…
And dredge both sides.
Then drop it in the milk…
Turn it over a time or two…
Then drop it in the breadcrumbs…
And turn it over to coat.
Then lay it on a wire rack over a sheet pan.
Keep going until they’re all breaded!
For the second zucchini, I cut them a little on a diagonal, which is how I remember the Zucchini Zircles at the Hamburger Hamlet I used to frequent.
I just breaded ’em one by one..
And set ’em on the pan.
Now it was time to fry ’em up!
I heated vegetable oil over medium heat until a few drops of breadcrumbs sizzled. Then I used tongs…
To carefully drop them in. I had enough oil in the skillet to just barely submerge the zircles.
I’m saying “zircles” as if it’s an actual word.
The directions say to just fry 3 or 4 at a time. And they do fry pretty quickly. You want the oil hot enough to brown them in a minute to a minute-and-a-half, but not burn them in that time. Just watch how the first batch goes, and adjust the heat accordingly.
Then pull them out when they’re deep golden brown…
And set them on a paper towel.
Keep going until they’re all perfectly fried.
Sprinkle them with a good amount of salt after they come out of the oil.
Then serve them warm with a dish of dipping sauce.
The perfect munchie!
It was amazing how much this whole experience took me back to Hamburger Hamlet and a time when I wore scrunchies and high top Reeboks.
Try these sometime! You’ll be glad you did.
(Thank you, Hamlet. You’ll forever be a part of my L.A. memories.)
Here’s the handy dandy printable!
