Ah, summer. The time of year when you can enjoy the sun into the evening, warm nights with dinner outside and a pool or two. Another byproduct? Mountains of fresh produce. I’m not lucky enough to have my own small garden yet, but judging from the number of bags of lemons and zucchini folks are bringing in from their garden to share with the office, I’m betting you might have some zucchini abundance to take care of.
Let me help with that…
Zucchini was the second vegetable I ever loved (after green beans) and even though I’m a lucky Californian who can partake all year ’round, I still savor every bite as though it might be months before I can eat them again. Zucchini has a scrumptious unique flavor: brighter and more delicate than other fall varieties of squash and also versatile in that it will soak up the flavors you cook it in. Raw zucchini grated into a salad soaks up the salad dressing perfectly, while sauteing in tomato sauce produces a new acidic and hearty bite.
Fritters are not only easy to make, they’re wonderfully flexible. I am sharing my basic recipe here, but know that I often add sweet summer corn, fresh pressed garlic and/or grated carrot to jazz them up.
Zucchini Fritters
1 pound of zucchini, grated (this was four market-sized zucchini for me)
1/2 to 1 sweet onion, grated
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
2 eggs
1/2 cup of flour
a few tablespoons of your favorite cooking oil (you can use olive oil, but I prefer a blend since olive oil starts to smoke if it gets too hot)
Blend all ingredients together. (You can definitely make this in advance and refrigerate your batter!)
Heat a skillet to medium heat. Add a tablespoon or so of oil and add batter to the pan. You can make the fritters any size you like in circumference, but make sure they’re about 1/2 inch thick so that they can easily cook all the way through.
Cook until golden brown, approximately 2-3 minutes per side.
* I regularly serve my fritters with lemon, but decided these guys needed a dipping sauce. I mixed together Fage 2% Greek Yogurt with some amazing dijon mustard and it was just perfect.
