We've been getting two or three summer squashes — zucchini, we call them — from the vegetable garden every day for a while now. They're called courgettes in France (and in the British Isles). Mostly Walt slices them and grills them on the barbecue grill, and we eat them that way. After while, though, you want something different. We put zucchini in our couscous broth, for example. And on another day we made summer squash fritters, called beignets in French. There are three beignets on the plate in this photo.
They are pretty simple to make. The most time-consuming part is grating two or three zucchinis, but a food processor makes that fast and easy. Don't peel them, just wash them. Then put them in a colander in the sink or over a bowl, sprinkle on some salt, and let the liquid drip out of the grated pulp. After 30 minutes or so, squeeze the pulp in your hands or in a kitchen towel to squeeze out as much liquid at possible.
Make a pancake batter, but with no sugar in it. It's flour, egg(s), and milk. Next time, I think we'll make a French crepe batter and make fritters with that, but this time we used an American-style pancake batter. Add as much pepper, chopped onion, grated Parmesan cheese, chives, parsley, or other fresh herbs as you want. Ladle portions of the batter into a hot frying pan, using olive or other vegetable oil or melted butter as a cooking medium.
Let the fritters brown on one side before turning them over. When they're golden brown on the the other side, take them out of the pan and keep them warm in the oven while you cook some more. Serve them hot with something like a cream or yogurt and sriracha sauce. You might notice that we put some French bacon (resembles Canadian bacon) lardons in these so we didn't serve any other meat with them for our lunch.
Interesting way to prepare and eat courgettes.
ReplyDeleteHave you never made or eaten fritters? We've made them with potato, sweet potato, winter squash, and of course summer squash over the past few years. I think we ate them in Morehead City when I was a stripling.
DeleteI don't really recall having ever had anything like that. Maybe potatoes, but I'm not sure. They're not beignets, are they?
DeleteBeignets can be "deep-fried" (dans un bain de friture) or "shallow-fried" (à la poêle dans un peu d'huile). Exemple.
DeleteBy the way, here's a video clip of Julie Andrieu and Thierry Marx making beignets with grated zucchini and herbs.
DeleteMorning Ken, I love these... but stick with the heavier batter.... a crépe batter doesn't work, it is too thin. But, instead of milk, use a light beer which gives the batter a tempura type mouthfeel.
ReplyDeleteHeinz Tomato Ketchup is also nice with fritters, as is a bit of proper mayo.
Putting the bacon in is new to me... although I have done stuffed fritters with rillettes...
you need two pans... one on low heat! Or a pan and a medium oven...
You need four fritters per high heat pan load... try and make them the same size, but thinner ...
before you get to turn them, put a walnut sized blob of rillette [duck is the best] in the middle of two of them and spread it out slightly... then turn the other two ON TOP of the rillette and press down hard with the spatula so that a little uncooked batter comes out the sides.
Turn the two fritters over... then transfer to the low heat pan... or an oven at 150 Centipede to finish cooking. Meantime make the next two... when serving remember that each one is slightly less than two fritters!
These can be eaten cold as well... and they freeze well... also, instead of courgette... try butternut squash.
And when you are fed up with barbecued slices and fritters....
there is a little book called "What will I do with all those courgettes" by Elaine Borish.......................
I'm not sure about the rillettes. I think those should be eaten cold.
DeleteMy next plan is zucchini and shrimp in a lemony cream sauce with pasta.
You could swap the rillettes for corned beef... which was always the filling for these before I happened to have some rillettes d'oie that needed finishing... since then it has been rillettes!!
DeleteMaybe some of my pulled pork or pulled turkey would be good.
DeleteYes, that sounds good.... especially with your curry powder addition to the mix.
DeleteI love recipes like this which can be different every time you make them, though similar, depending on what you have available in material and inspiration.
ReplyDeleteA good addition to zucchini fritters is some curry powder. That changes the taste.
DeleteAdded to mental list!
DeleteThese look like zucchini latkes. Pretty darn tempting.
ReplyDeleteLatkes are potato fritters. I've made those. Also sweet potato and winter squash (pumpkin, butternet...). All are good with yogurt sriracha sauce.
DeleteYogurt sriracha sauce....I had no idea there was such a thing and I live in the land of sriracha, lol. Is this something you make yourself?
DeleteYes, we make it. It can be yogurt or mayonnaise, or a combination of the two, with sriracha added as you like for heat and flavor.
DeleteThanks for this heads up Ken.
DeleteI haven’t head my breakfast yet, and now I really wish I were having these!
ReplyDeleteThey would be good for breakfast.
DeleteYour recipe sounds very close to the one my Mother would make for my family during the late summer. She would use an extension cord from the house and set-up her electric fry pan on the table we had been playing whist on and soon we had our hot lunch! Beer would have been a good addition -- to drink -- I think, instead of in the batter (my daughter would have been a toddler at that point!)
ReplyDeletePeople often put beer in batter for frying because it makes the batter lighter. You can use bubbly water instead of beer. Or baking powder.
DeleteCould you use zucchini instead of eggplant, as if for eggplant parmesan? Or in lasagna? Trying to think of creative uses here.
ReplyDeleteYes and yes. Zucchini does replace eggplant well. I've made moussaka using zucchini instead of eggplant, for example. Thanks.
Delete