Panko-Crusted Veggies

My Thai Peanut leftovers reached that awkward stage where they were too large for one serving, but too small for two servings...so, I decided to split them in half and then prepare a side dish for myself. I rummaged around my kitchen and discovered that I needed to use up some fresh vegetables and I had some Panko bread crumbs lying around. Then, with very little idea about what I was actually doing, I started making crap up. And here's what happened!

Ingredients:

• One whole tomato
• 1/2 of a cucumber
• Olive Oil
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1-1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• Cooking spray

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. Chop up the entire tomato into chunks and slice the cucumber
3. In a medium-sized bowl, mix flour, Panko breadcrumbs, salt & pepper
4. Toss the veggies in olive oil
5. Coat the veggies in the crumb mixture
6. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray
7. Arrange the veggies in a single layer on the sheet, spray the top with cooking spray
8. Place the baking sheet in the middle of the oven for ten minutes
9. Remove sheet, flip cucumbers, and stir the tomatoes around a bit
10. Bake in oven for another 10 minutes

When they came out looking like this, I was happy with the tomatoes, but thought the cucumbers were looking a little pallid. So I kept the tomatoes warm in the oven and pan-fried the cucumbers. Much smoke ensued, but at least they got some color and crispiness going on.
And then I put them in a bowl. I dumped the tomatoes on top...and had it with my little bowl o' noodles and some diet ginger ale. Hee hee, it looks like beer in its awesome pilsner glass.It tasted pretty decent, I definitely liked the tomatoes more than the cucumbers. Would I make it again? Hm...only if I had Panko crumbs I needed to use up. Like, I wouldn't go out and buy Panko just to make this recipe. But if I have them on hand, sure! It made some tasty little tomato nuggets.