Thursday, April 14, 2011

Zucchini Fritters


When we had our Twice baked potato dinner recently, I decided to fry up a little sidekick. I saw these in Cooks Illustrated Magazine, and was very curious. They contain two of my favorites, Zucchini, and Feta cheese. How can you go wrong with that?
 I really should have served them alongside my Greek Meatball dinner, since they feature the same Greek inspired flavors and are served with Tzatziki sauce, but I didn't have the time then, so here they are now! Theese are delicious! They were very easy to make and turned out nice and crispy. The key is to get as much liquid out of the Zucchini as possible, so be thorough with this step.

Zucchini fritters
1 pound zucchini (about 3 medium ),
 trimmed and shredded coarsely
1 teaspoon table salt
8 ounces, feta cheese, crumbled (about 2 cups)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 scallions, minced
2 tablespoons minced fresh dill leaves
1 medium garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons olive oil
Lemon wedges for serving

Shred zucchini on large holes of a box grater. Toss shredded zucchini with salt and let drain in fine mesh strainer set over a bowl for 10 minutes. Wrap zucchini in paper towels (I used cheese cloth)
and squeeze out excess liquid. Combine dried zucchini, feta, eggs,
scallions, dill, garlic, and pepper in a medium bowl.
Sprinkle flour over mixture and stir until uniformly incorporated.
Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Drop 2 tablespoons of batter into pan, then use the back of spoon to press batter into round fritters. Work in batches, making 5-6 fritters at a time, wiping skillet clean as needed and replenishing with more oil. Fry until golden brown on both sides, 3-4 minutes per side.
The cooked fritters can be kept warm in a 200-degree oven for up to an hour.

Easy Tzatziki sauce:
1/2 English cucumber (I leave it unpeeled!)
1 cup Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste (Go easy!)

Grate cucumber on large holes of a box grater. Squeeze out excess water. Whisk yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, and salt and pepper together in a medium bowl. Stir in cucumber. Refrigerate until ready to use (up to 2 days, covered).




Recipe for fritters adapted from Cooks Illustrated Magazine, Spring Entertaining, 2011
Recipe for Tzatziki sauce from my own head.

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