We made these on the weekend, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. Delicious, herby, cheesy little nuggets! You can serve them with yogurt but as I have an endless supply, it seems, of Sungold cherry tomatoes, I roasted them up with slivers of garlic, salt, pepper and EVO and served the room temperature tomatoes with the hot fritters. Last time I made a salsa with halved cherry tomatoes, garlic EVO, and chopped parsley; good too! Hey, it’s summer, so zucchini and tomatoes are definitely on the menus! You can change up the herbs if you like; maybe with basil instead of the mint? If you can find Romanesco zucchini do…they are so good and our favourite variety.
Makes 6 to 8 Appetizer Servings
1 ¼ lbs. fresh zucchini, grated
1 cup finely chopped red onion
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1 scant cup toasted whole wheat breadcrumbs (not multi-grain)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
4 Tbsp. chopped fresh mint (more if you really like lots of mint)
1 Tbsp. dried oregano
Vegetable oil for frying the fritters.
Toss the grated zucchini, onion and salt in a large colander. Let stand 1 hour; squeeze as dry as possible; you could use a clean, cotton towel to do this. Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Mix in next 6 ingredients.
Preheat the oven to 180 F.
Line a baking sheet with 3 or 4 pieces of paper towels.
Pour vegetable oil into a heavy large deep saucepan, up to 1″. If you have one an electric frying pan they are great for frying because it comes with a built-in thermometer. Attach a deep-fry thermometer to the side of the pan; heat oil over medium-high heat to 350 F. Working in batches of 4, shape zucchini mixture by tablespoonfuls into balls; add to the hot oil and fry the batches until fritters are brown, carefully turning once using two spoons, about 3 minutes in total. Remove from the fat with a slotted spoon, and transfer to the paper towel lined baking sheet and place in the warm oven to keep warm while you fry the remaining fritters; allowing the oil to return to 350 F between batches.
Place the fritters on a serving platter and either serve with some of the suggestions made earlier, or whatever appeals at the moment!
