Zucchini Fritters

While perusing recipes and trying to find new ways to cope with the seasonal zucchini overabundance from my mom's garden  I came across this recipe for Zucchini Fritters from Once Upon a Chef, to see the original post, click here. 

 Few notes on the ingredients: I used one SUPER sized zucchini after halving it and scooping out the seeds and overly pithy center. I also used cornstarch instead of flour. I also was VERY generous in my usage of dill and scallion and it didn't take away anything from the fritter, so feel free to be generous in your usage.

They are incredible and are definitely going to be an August staple in my kitchen


Ingredients: 
2. medium zucchini shredded
1 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
2 large scallions
2 tablespoons minced fresh dill
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 med. garlic clove, minced or finely chopped
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 cup cornstarch (or flour)
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3 tablespoons olive oil, plus some more if needed

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Shred your zucchini (I used my food processor to expedite) mix with salt and transfer to a fine-mesh strainer to drain. Allow the zucchini to sit for at least ten minutes. 

I then took the zucchini and wrung it out in a paper towel, the volume of the zucchini shrunk by half after I got all of the water out. 

Beat the eggs, mix in the zucchini, scallions, dill, feta, garlic, and black pepper. 

Add the corn starch (or flour) and baking powder and mix until it is incorporated. 

Heat the olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Be sure to watch that the oil doesn't become too hot. Drop 2 tablespoon-sized portions into the pan and gently press down into fritters. 

Pan fry until golden brown about 3 minutes per side. 

Transfer the fritters to a paper towel-lined plate. 

Note that your fritters, once cooked may still be "bendy" when you transfer them to the plate. Allowing the fritters to rest for at least a minute or two will help them to firm up before serving. 

I served ours with store-bought tzatziki sauce on the side. 

If anyone knows a good tzatziki recipe, please send it my way I've been on the hunt for a good homemade option. 

xoxox

Chicken, Zucchini, and Armenian String Cheese Bake

Before starting on the zucchini, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Marinate the chicken in white wine and rosemary. 

I was at the tail end of the bottle, so I used a Channing Daughters Mudd Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc. Delicious! 

Channing Daughters is a small winery out in Bridgehampton. The intimate tasting room and wonderful staff make it a must see if you're making your way out to the Hamptons.   

Put the marinated chicken in a baking dish and bake for approximately 20 minutes. 

Remove and reserve.

Prepping the Zucchini

I'm still making my way through the copious amounts of zucchini that has grown this summer. Due to their size, the zucchini has a "pithy" center. I prefer removing it because I find both the texture and the flavor to be distasteful. 

Sprinkle a small amount (approximately 1-2 tablespoons) of olive oil on a baking sheet.

Layout the zucchini the first sheet I baked I left the rings intact. However, in the interest of expediency I started cutting them in half for the bottom layers. 

Season with fresh thyme, chives, salt and pepper. 

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 12-15 minutes. 

Once you've finished baking all the zucchini, begin building the layers. I wanted to maintain the moisture  in both the chicken and the vegetables so I poured some of our family's tomato sauce at the bottom. 

I then began stacking zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and since I wanted it to be a little creamy, small amounts of goat cheese. 

Lay in your chicken.

I then took the whole zucchini rings from the first batch I baked, and placed them over the chicken. 

The top layer was topped with the armenian string cheese. 

I had so much fun pulling it apart, it's almost ridiculous. 

Bake for another 15 minutes. 

Eat up and enjoy!

Zucchini & Shrimp

I had some leftover grated zucchini from making my zucchini bread and I tried to replicate one of my favorite dinners from our local Italian restaurant. It's light, minimal calories and absolutely delicious. 

One thing that you have to be wary of is the excess liquid that you will inevitably have in the pan as you are cooking from the zucchini. If you wanted to add additional liquid to the pan for flavor, I would suggest that you first pour off the excess water before adding any additional flavors that you would like to reduce down. 

I purchased precooked shrimp, defrosted and shelled them (I think it is incredibly annoying to have shells in the dish) before cutting them up.. When I defrost shrimp I usually just fill the plastic bag with COLD water and let it sit in the sink while I prepare the other ingredients. After about ten minutes I pour it out into a colander and then let water run over it to get rid of any "fishiness." 

For a single serving, you will need:

Approximately 2 cups of grated zucchini 

1 cup of cooked cut up shrimp 

Red pepper flakes to taste

Salt to taste 

2 teaspoons of olive oil 

Start by cooking the zucchini in a skillet with the olive oil and salt. Make sure to stir occasionally so nothing adheres to the pan. After about 10 minutes add the shrimp & red pepper flakes, allow to cook for another 5 minutes. 

Before I added the shrimp and red pepper flakes, I drained off most of the liquid from the zucchini, and added a splash of white wine (Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio) and I allowed that to reduce down before I added the shrimp and the red pepper flakes. 

There you have it, a quick healthy dinner that is surprisingly filling and delicious, 

serve with some thin slices of a toasted baguette and enjoy! 

Zucchini overload- Zucchini Bread

This year we've grown more zucchini than we know what to do with! 

I've been trying to give most of it away and use whatever is left over but it's been... 

a little bit challenging.  

I decided to make zucchini bread, and since I don't really have that much experience with baking I based it off of several recipes that I found online. I had  more than enough "raw material" to do several batches before I found a recipe that gave me a flavor I was happy with.  

Start by grating the zucchini, some people suggested using a Cuisinart food processor in order to expedite the process, but I just grated it by hand.  

Because of the size the zucchini's have grown to, I was careful to remove the seeds (which had reached the size of PUMPKIN seeds) and the spongy center.

 Spongy center = Weird texture, no flavor, no thank you! 

You will need: 

- 3 eggs

- 1 cup of vegetable oil

- 1 and 3/4 cup of sugar

- 2 cups of grated zucchini 

- 3 cups of all purpose flour 

- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

- 1 teaspoon of baking soda

- 1 teaspoon salt

- 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

- a pinch of powdered ginger

- 3 tsp. cinnamon 

- nutmeg to taste ( I used 1/4 teaspoon) 

You can add 1 cup of chocolate chips, or walnuts or whatever you want to. 

This makes about 2 loaves of bread, I added the chocolate chips to my second loaf and left the first plain. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and grease two bread loaf pans with butter and flour.

First scramble the eggs well and at a rapid whisk. 

After these have been well scrambled, whisk in the vegetable oil slowly being sure to fully incorporate the oil in small increments before adding more. 

You want to aerate the egg batter as you're whisking, this will add volume to the mixture. 

Once you are done adding the oil, mix in the sugar in the same manner. Small increments, well whisked then add the vanilla extract. 

Mix the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl and mix them well. Reserve the nuts and/or chocolate. 

Slowly mix the flour mixture into the egg batter. 

Follow with the zucchini folding this into the batter, following with the nuts and or chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into the two greased pans and bake in the oven for one hour.

 To check that the bread is done put a fork in the loaf, if it comes out cleanly without any residue then it is done. 

Allow to fully cool, remove from the pan, and enjoy!