Zucchini Fritters

CA has been complaining that we eat the same boring vegetables all the time.  I'll admit that we eat a lot of roasted broccoli, roasted brussels sprouts, sauteed squash and steamed green beans.  However, in my defense, during the week I don't have a lot of time to come up with some new and creative vegetable dish.  Plus, on weekdays I try my best to eat in a healthy way (don't judge a girl's health status by her blog posts) and the simplest vegetable dishes often have the least calories and allow me to stuff large amounts of them in my face so that I'm full and don't eat a lot of more unhealthy items.  I'm no fun when I'm hungry.

To appease his veggie boredom, I decided to make zucchini fritters on this particular weekEND night.

I looked at at least 10 recipes online and then closed the laptop and decided to wing it.  It turns out there is a LOT of water in zucchini so the common theme in all of the recipes I read was that you have to get as much water as possible out of the zucchini or you'll end up with a soggy mess. 

I wanted to keep things simple so the only flavorings I added to the fritters were salt and pepper and sauteed onions.  Oh yeah, and a little cheese because you can't have fritters without cheese.  It's a rule that I just made up.

The fritters get fried up in a little bit of oil.

The verdict?  CA loved these.  He thought they were like the zucchini version of creamed spinach.  Not quite what I was going for, but if he's happy, I'm happy... especially considering I made these for him.

Me?  I thought the flavor was really good but I wanted them to be crispier.  I think the lack of crunch is a function of me not squeezing enough water out of the zucchini.  Squeeze that zucchini like your life depends on it.

Zucchini Fritters
Yields 6-8 Fritters

Ingredients
3 Medium Zucchini
1/2 onion, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 T + 1/2 cup Canola Oil, divided
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
1 Egg
1/4 cup Flour
3/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper


Instructions
Grate the zucchini, wrap it in three layers paper towels and squeeze to release the water.  You'll have to repeat the process a few times to remove as much water as possible.  Add the zucchini to a medium mixing bowl.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat.  Add the onion and saute until soft, about 5 minutes.  Add the cooked onion to the mixing bowl.

Add the cheese, egg, flour, salt and pepper to the mixing bowl and mix well.  Gently form the zucchini mixture into 6-8 patties, about 1/2" thick.

Heat the remaining canola oil in the same nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Working in batches, fry the patties in hot oil until browned and crisp, 3-4 minutes per side.

Transfer the fritters to paper towels to let drain.


Enjoy!
Julie