Zucchini and Feta Fritters

It's usually around this time of year that people across the land are fielding complaints about excessive zucchini consumption, as they grow so prolifically in home gardens.    Zucchini is so mild that it can be a real drag to eat unless it's paired with something really flavoursome to compensate for the blandness.  One of my favourite ways to eat zucchini is in a salad with a chili dressing, grated in long wide strips with a vegetable peeler.  Stir fry is great, and then of course there is the classic fritter. I think that feta is pretty much essential to add some flavour, and they're delicious served with salad and a strong chutney.

Zucchini and Feta Fritters

1 large or 3 small zucchini
3/4 block of feta cheese, cut or crumbled into very small chunks
1.5 cups of flour
1 cup of milk
3 eggs
1 small onion, very finely diced
1 garlic clove, finely diced or grated
Salt and black pepper
Olive oil

• Wash, dry and grate zucchini.  With clean hands, squeeze the shredded zucchini and drain the excess water.
• Crack eggs into a mug or bowl and whisk with a fork
• Combine in a large bowl the sieved flour with all other ingredients.  Mix well.  If the mixture is too wet, add a little more flour to compensate.
• Heat a small frying pan and add a good dose of olive oil.  Wait for the oil to become very hot (but not burning) and add large dollops of the mixture to make fritters.  Fry a few at a time and cook well.  Drain on paper towels.

The hardest part of cooking fritters is making sure that they are cooked through properly.  It's so disappointing biting into a fritter to get a floury, uncooked centre.  This recipe makes about a dozen medium-sized fritters.  If you have leftovers, you can refrigerate and reheat these the next day in the oven, on bake.  Microwaving fritters will make them soggy.





Leftover fritter - in need of chutney