Mini Zucchini Fritters

I love the farmers market. But then again, who doesn’t? This summer it’s become a Saturday morning (late morning if we’re being exact) tradition for me and my housemate. We wander the market for awhile: admire the piles of luscious red raspberries and plump blackberries, heaps of pearly white onions, bunches of fresh greens and herbs, piles of tomatoes, corn, watermelon, and zucchini, drool over the homemade cupcakes and breads, take in all the smells (do I want Egyptian falafel or a sweet onion sausage for lunch?) people-watch (Wing loves pointing out the cutest dogs to me, while I point out and describe the personality of all the kids who go to the daycare where I work during the year), and then finally make the difficult decision of what to buy. As a nearly-broke college student, I can’t buy every single berry and melon I see, even though I would very much like to. Some difficult decisions have to be made.

And last week was a week of zucchini. Relatively cheap, delicious, and versatile–the perfect choice. Zucchini was the side dish of choice for several days: roasted zucchini, zucchini fries (I haven’t found a share-able recipe for these yet, but I’m working on it), and these awesome little fritters. They were so easy to make and were a very nice, crispy little side dish. You can also easily refrigerate the batter if you don’t want to make them all at once (especially if you’re only making them for two people, like I was).

The original recipe that I looked at serves these fritters with a goat cheese sauce. I adore goat cheese. I fell in love with it last summer, when I made one of the most things delicious things I have ever eaten in my life: goat cheese tarts with fresh blackberries (coming soon in a new post, I PROMISE!). The following fall while I was in Spain I ate it whenever I got the chance, usually topped with honey and pine nuts (more on Spain later as well!). Anyway, we were fresh out of goat cheese the day I made these zucchini fritters, so we made do serving them with plain yogurt, which was also very good. The other change I made was adding a little spice. I made half the batch for dinner one day without spice, then made the rest a few days later for lunch. The second time I decided that a little cayenne pepper just might add a perfect little kick of spiciness and make these fritters even better. And it did!

I’m looking forward to the farmers market this weekend—not only for more zucchini (I want to try zucchini bread this week), but also for the berries so I can finally make those goat cheese tarts again :)

Zucchini Fritters

Recipe adapted from Pinch of Yum

1 medium zucchini, grated
1/2 tsp salt
zest of 1 lemon
a handful of chopped parsley
2 chopped green onions
1 egg
a dash or two of pepper
1/2 cup flour
1/8 tsp-ish cayenne pepper (optional, amount varies depending on taste)
oil for frying
plain yogurt for serving

Grate the zucchini–just chop off the stem end and grate that thing! (I wasn’t sure how to best grate a zucchini, but after googling it it turned out to be a very easy job.) Mix all ingredients except the oil and yogurt together until they’re well-combined.  Heat oil (maybe 2-3 Tbsp, just enough to cover the skillet, add more as needed) in a large skillet on medium heat. Use a tablespoon to drop little rounded zucchini patties into the oil. Fry on each side until golden brown and crispy. Serve with yogurt on the side.