Zucchini Fritters
- Tracy Scheckel
- Oct 8
- 3 min read
In early fall here in Maine it's quite common to be gifted zucchini and squash because they grow well here and it seems like everyone I know plants too many -- which is precisely why I don't plant any! A couple of years ago, a friendly 'zucchini gift' consisted of 2 rather large zucchinis and a smallish summer squash. We'll talk about the summer squash in another recipe, but for now, it's all about the zucchini.
The first thing everyone does when that zucchini gift arrives and make bread or muffins, and I'm no different. Once I had mads 24 cupcake sized and 12 on larger muffin cups, I STILL had 2 cups of shredded zucchini left. What to do....
My zucchini fritters are born! I made them exactly as noted in this recipe but in the future, I might experiment further with different cheeses, garlic, and different or stronger spices.
Don't get me wrong, these were absolutely delish with a lemon aioli and the carrot ginger, and squash soup that employed the summer squash portion of the 'gift'.
As I'm typing and thinking about frying the fritters, I am reminded of a little trick I recently learned while binging on ATK. If this is something you already do, kudos to you! If not, this will make your life easier and probably a bit safer. When I pan fry anything in oil that needs to be carefully turned over I invariably splash during the flip -- most times either getting a little platter burn or splashing and ruining whatever I'm wearing. And ALWAYS making more mess of my stove.
Hang on, here's a little trip down the rabbit hole.... one of the things in my kitchen that came from my Nana's is this thin metal spatula (the 'blade' is less than an inch wide) that I remember her using to spread frosting and whipped cream on desserts. When we decommissioned her kitchen when she moved in with my mom and dad, this spatula was among the things dear to me that I kept -- not sure why because I tend to use silicon spatulas for the task.
Anyway, there I was watching the Test Kitchen as they were frying eggplant slices. When it was time to turn them, they slid the turner (larger spatula) unfed an eggplant slice, they then used the doppelganger on Nana's spatula to stabilize the eggplant slice for turning. Once it was turned, they carefully slid the Nana spatula out as the eggplant was gently placed in the oil to cook on its B-side. If you're sitting there rolling your eyes, I deserve it because once I saw this oh-so-simple maneuver, I literally smacked myself upside the head.
THE RECIPE:
2c shredded zucchini
2 eggs
1c shredded onion
1c shredded Asiago cheese
2c flour
1/4 to 1/2c minced sun dried tomatoes
1 dried smoked jalapeno minced fine
Salt and pepper to taste up to a teaspoon of each.
Shortening of olive oil for pan frying
Drain and press the zucchini to remove most of the the water. You can do this on layers of paper towels or in a mesh strainer over a bowl or cup.
In a large bowl, combine eggs and zucchini until well mixed.
Add onion and Asiago and mix well.
Gradually add the flour and stir until completely combined.
Add salt and pepper.
Fold in the minced sun-dried tomato and smoked pepper.
Heat shortening or olive oil in a skillet until it begins to ripple and shimmer.
Carefully place a dollop (about 1/4 cup of the batter in the oil and gently flatten with a wooden spoon.
Fry until you can see the golden edges of the bottom side of the fritter.
Gently torn the fritter and cook another couple of minutes until the second side is golden-brown.
Remove fritter from pan and place on a paper towel to cool and shed some of the cooking oil.
Notes:
Depending on the size of your frying pan you can do up to 4 fritters at a time.
Freezing is an option if you really have the mother-load. After the fritters are cooled completely, layer them between pieces of wax paper and slide into zip close freezer bags.
