8 & $20: Chicken Breasts with Pesto 'Zoodles' AND Pesto Zucchini Fritters Leftover Makeover

Hi Friends!

I know we're quickly careening towards Labor Day, which means summer is swiftly slipping away. So let's enjoy it while it lasts! In that spirit, I happily share with you my latest 8 & $20 up on WineSpectator.com this week: Chicken Breasts with Pesto 'Zoodles'. It fast, easy, and healthy.

Photo credit on both of these: Greg Hudson

Perhaps slightly less healthy, but equally delicious was the leftover makeover I created to use up the zoodles I had left afterwards: Pesto Zucchini Fritters. Basically, these were like zucchini latkes. I had quite a lot of zoodles and I added in an extra zucchini’s worth of noodles. Take all of these quantities given here with a grain of salt and gauge it to how much you have left. As well, I'd recommend removing any remaining cherry tomatoes. I left them in, but they have a lot of liquid and I found they could keep the rest of fritter from sticking as well. If there's excess liquid in the zoodles, drain that as well. You'll need flour, eggs, dry salami (optional), and cooking oil in addition to the zoodles.

Here’s what I did:

• Mix together a cup of flour and two eggs. (Halve it for a smaller quantity of noodles.)    
• Add in the zoodles and dry salami if using, a generous pinch of salt,  and additional pesto (if desired and if any is left. You can also save it and use it as a topping.) Toss to combine.
•  Heat a generous amount of cooking oil in a large pan. Once the oil is really hot, scoop spoonfuls of the zucchini batter into the hot oil (working in batches as needed) and fry until golden brown. Flip and cook on the second side. Once browned on both sides,  transfer fritters to a plate lined with paper towels. Season with salt.

I served the fritters on a bed of green salad which was the perfect counterpoint to the fried fritter.

We still had some of the Cantina Pra 'Otto' Soave Classico I paired it with in the article, so we enjoyed it with the fritters as well.

We also opened a bottle of  Luis Pato Maria Gomes, Bairrada, Portugal 2014, which worked quite nicely as well.