zucchini fritters

Another food bloggers event for me to join!

I subscribe to Donna Hay's magazine, that comes out once every two months, and love the culinary ideas that her beautiful, stylish photos inspire.

This event starts off with a Donna Hay recipe, posted by the host, with other food bloggers invited to join in with their own versions.

This time the event is hosted by JenJen from Milk & Cookies and the theme is “fritters”.

My entry is a simplistic yet delicious recipe for zucchini fritters.

When there’s an omnivore and a herbivore in one house finding interesting recipes that excite both of us are few and far between.

I hate couscous, capsicum and have an eternal craving for red meat, while Jonas is the only vegetarian I know that abhors eggplant.

When we discovered this recipe for zucchini fritters we were both over the moon. Tasty, healthy (sort of) and full of fresh herbs, they couldn’t be more delicious and served with a good Greek salad and some tzatziki on the side, no one could turn them down.

Zucchini Fritters
Recipe from Family Circle “Mezze”. Makes 8 large or 16 small fritters.
Ingredients:
2 medium zucchini, grated
1 small onion, grated
½ cup self-raising flour
1/3 cup grated kefalotyri cheese (or parmigiano)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
¼ cup dry breadcrumbs
1 egg, lightly beaten
Pinch of nutmeg
Method:
1. Put grated zucchini and onion into the centre of a clean tea towel or sheet of muslin and twist as tightly as possible to squeeze out as much liquid as you can. Continue until the mixture seems fairly dry.
2. Combine dry zucchini mixture with flour, mint, cheese, parsley, nutmeg, breadcrumbs and egg in a bowl and mix with clean hands into a stiff mixture that clumps together. Optionally, dust each fritter with additional flour.
3. You can cook the fritters by frying or baking:
a) Frying: heat olive oil for shallow frying (medium heat). Drop level tablespoons of mixture into the oil for 2-3 minutes until well browned all over. Drain well on paper towels.
b) Baking: oil a baking tray with olive oil and place fritters on tray. Brush lightly with melted butter or olive oil then bake for 10-15 minutes on 180°C until well browned all over. Drain well on paper towels.
4. Sprinkle with salt. Great served with tzatziki.

I especially like the fact that this recipe uses kefalotyri cheese. I’d never even heard of this ewe’s milk hard cheese until I read this recipe.

Kefalotyri is very salty, slightly yellow is usually made from sheep’s milk (or goat’s but certainly not cow’s) and takes around three months to ripen. It has a 55% fat content and can be eaten fried or melted over vegetables or within dishes.

Apparently it’s been eaten in Greece since the Byztantine period (3rd to 13th century). Today it’s really popular in Greece and has a sharp tang, similar to the Italian cheese pecorino.

Be sure to visit JenJen’s recap on 22 October to see all the all fritter recipes as well as find out which fritters the food blogging world find most appetising.



Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes donna hay fritter zucchini courgette kefalotyri snack entree appetiser vegetarian vegetarian food