Macheesmo

Look. I love zucchini as much as the next guy, but when you have zucchini coming out your ears in August, it’s not enough to just make zucchini pancakes.

After all, zucchini pancakes taste like, well, zucchini. And while I love zucchini, I’m not doing back flips over it. I don’t wake up in the morning salivating for that first shred of zucchini. That doesn’t happen.

But it’s a good start. Toss in some real flavors like chives and Parmesan cheese and now we are talking about something I can get behind, like these Zucchini Fritters.

Zucchini Parmesan Fritters

by Nick

Serves:

Makes 6 fritters

Prep Time:

15 mins

Total Time:

30 mins

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Classic zucchini fritters that are flavored with Parmesan cheese and fresh chives. These fritters make a perfect summer brunch item!

Ingredients

1 pound zucchini, about 1.5 medium zucchini, two cups shredded

1 large egg

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 cup olive oil, for cooking

Greek yogurt, for garnish

Chives, for garnish

Instructions

1) Wash zucchini and shred them. Using some paper towels, pat zucchini shreds until they are mostly dry.

2) Mix zucchini with egg, flour, and other ingredients. Stir together well.

3) Add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil to a cast iron skillet and heat over medium-high heat.

4) Once hot, add zucchini batter in 1/3 cup fritters. Gently press them into circles on the pan. Do not crowd the pan. You will probably only be able to do three at a time.

5) Cook fritters until edges are brown, about 4 minutes. Then flip and cook for another 3-4 minutes.

6) Remove and continue cooking until you used all the batter. If the skillet looks dry, add another drizzle of oil.

7) Serve fritters immediately with greek yogurt and chives.

Zucchini Fritters

Preppin’ the Zucchini

The good thing about zucchini, if you are dehydrated, is that it’s mostly water.

The bad thing about zucchini, if you plan to cook with it, is that it’s mostly water.

If you don’t get some of that water out before you cook the stuff in fritter form you’ll be left with a big soggy mess.

So to start the zucchini, just run it through a box grater to get some nice strands. You need about two cups but you can totally eyeball it and add more if you are left with a strange piece of zucchini or something.

Now for the annoying part… take some paper towels and rub them all over the zucchini. Really press on them and try to get out as much moisture as you can.

This is a totally annoying step, but it’s probably the most important step in the recipe.

The dryer your zucchini is, the better your fritters will be.

Actual Flavor!

I love zucchini as much as the next dude, but it isn’t known for having a lot of pizzazz.

But we can add in a few other flavors like Parmesan and chives that will really bump up the flavor on our cakes.

The batter for these cakes is about as straight forward as it gets. Just stir the dry ingredients together in a small bowl just to make sure they are evenly distributed.

Then stir everything together. Once you have your base fritter batter done, add in some chopped chives and as much grated Parmesan as you feel like.

Cooking the Zucchini Fritters

You could use any large skillet or griddle to cook these bad boys, but I like to use a handy cast iron skillet for mine. Just heat it up over medium heat and add a small drizzle of olive oil.

Then scoop in fritter batter. I used about 1/3 of a cup of batter for each of my fritters.

After about four minutes, they should be ready to flip.

Assuming you have a nonstick skillet or well-seasoned cast iron skillet, these should just lift right off the pan.

As you can see, I didn’t exactly have even heat on my pan because I didn’t have the pan centered on the burner.

So it goes…

Cook them for 3-4 minutes on side two and they are ready to serve!

Serve these guys with some Greek yogurt and extra chives and they are pretty hard to beat.

Rejoice! Zucchini pancakes that taste like more than just zucchini!