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.