09 August 2014

Little zucchini pancakes and hushpuppies

The good news from yesterday is that the roof over the kitchen didn't leak, despite the heavy, wind-driven rain that fell in the afternoon. We got a total of 38 mm (1½ inches) of rain in a very short span of time. The roof was repaired a little more than a year ago, and the repair seems to have been totally effective.


Now it is time for some comfort food made with the ingredient of the season: zucchini or courgettes or summer squash — whatever you have and whatever you want to call it. These little savory pancakes are called beignets in French. I like to make them using a combination of cornmeal and flour, but you could do them with wheat flour only (200 grams).

Beignets aux courgettes

1 courgette
125 g de farine de maïs
75 g de farine de blé
1 pincée de bicarbonate alimentaire
20 g de parmesan râpé
2 œufs
125 ml de yaourt nature
75 ml de lait
1 c. à soupe d'huile d'olive
sel et poivre
huile végétale


Râpez (grille à gros trous) la courgette sans la peler. Dans un saladier, mélangez la chair de courgette avec tous les autres ingrédients sauf l'huile végétale.


Faites chauffer un peu d'huile végétale à feu moyen dans une grande poêle antiadhésive. Mettez la pâte dans la poêle, cuillerée à soupe par cuillerée à soupe, pour faire des beignets.


Laissez dorer joliment les beignets quelques minutes de chaque côté. Egouttez-les sur du papier absorbant. Vous pouvez garder les beignets dans un four doux pendant quelques minutes avant de les servir. Dégustez-les chauds.

I cooked only part of the batter and put the rest in the fridge for later. And then a couple of days later, I added some more cornmeal to the leftover batter, making it stiff enough to shape into little logs or bouchons that I could deep-fry. Zucchini hushpuppies! They were crispy and delicious served with butter. I'll do that again soon.

6 comments:

  1. These are what my Mum used to call "Courgette Fritters"...
    [There was also an apple version for puddings in apple season]
    Now.... have a guess what has just appeared on the menu for tonight...
    tareversuch Ken!

    When I have made these, I have often made too many...
    discovered, therefore, that they are wonderful cold with a dipping sauce...
    tatziki or "slushy"salsa...
    wouldn't work well with my salsa fresca...
    that Pauline blogged about the other day...
    too much would fall off!

    I think I might try these with my "buckwheat blini batter" recipe...
    we've around 200 gms left to use up in an old packet.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, I make the same pancakes with zucchini. They are wonderful. But my recipe is a bit different.

    ReplyDelete
  3. i've been doing zuke fritters all summer ....next time I will add some cornmeal.....great idea..merci

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oooh, I love the addition of cornmeal. Looks very good :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I make zucchini pancakes a lot, but never with farine de mais. Thanks for the lovely idea and stay dry! :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Bonjour et Merci Ken for this recipe.

    We tend to buy too much courgettes ( not our choice since they are sold in little plastic containers) when we go to the Jean Talon market and now I know how to use them.
    I guess I can cook them also the size of a little omelette individually in a pan and enjoy a couple of them as a meal. Those hushpuppies will taste good with some Sriracha chili sauce :-)

    ReplyDelete

What's on your mind? Qu'avez-vous à me dire ?