Zucchini Fritters {Light!}

Kate mentioned that we both just got home from big summer trips, and one of my favorite things about being gone for a while in the summer is coming home to see how much our garden grew.  You don’t notice when you stare at something every day, but head out for a week or two and bam!  We had a major heat spell while we were gone and all of our plants went crazy.  We had loads of strawberries, my herbs are 4 feet tall, and we even found our first ripe tomatoes on the vine (we’ve never, ever had red ones this early in the season).  Our cucumbers and zucchini are in full force, too.  So I’m entering that phase of the summer when there is literally a pile of zucchini on my kitchen counter every single day.

We have lots of yummy zucchini recipes, and honestly if it were up to me, I’d make Chocolate Zucchini Bread every single day, but my thighs contest.  So I’m always looking for new ways to use it.  Fritters are super quick and easy, and although they taste all crispy and fried, I’ve cut down on extra stuff so these are mostly zucchini, and pretty darn healthy!  At under 30 calories each, these are such an awesome snack or side dish because they taste so, so yummy.

Use a large-hole box grater and shred your zucchini.  I’ll tell you right now, the degree to which you remove the moisture will make or break your fritters.  Put the shredded zucchini in a strainer over a bowl or in your sink and toss it with a little salt, letting it sit for about 10-15 minutes.  This step will draw out moisture, which if left in, will make your fritters gooey and mushy.   You’ll notice a lot of liquid dripping out of the strainer, so just use your hand to press as much out as you can.  After you’ve pressed it, transfer it to several layers of paper towels.  Put more paper towels on top and just press the heck out of it, like you would for thawed frozen spinach, removing as much liquid as you can.

Once that’s done, add the rest of the ingredients.  You can really be flexible here; that’s one of the great things about a fritter.  Toss in fresh herbs, additional seasonings, some hot sauce if you like, whatever.  I add green onions,

bottled minced garlic (I always keep a jar of garlic in my fridge, and I prefer it for things like this because it lends plenty of flavor without being too overbearing like fresh garlic can be, since these aren’t cooked for long, but feel free to use fresh,) a little Parmesan cheese, black pepper, and to bind them all together: an egg white and just a touch of flour.  The flavors are clean and simple, but oh so good.

At this point, imagine me stirring this mixture up, and dropping them into a skillet on the stove top that’s been drizzled with our Garlic Oil  instead of me looking at the clock realizing I need to leave in 10 minutes and having to finish making and photographing fritters.  You’ll just pan-fry them in a little bit of oil (just enough to cover the bottom of the pan- we’re not deep frying here) until they’re crispy and golden on one side and then flip until they’re crispy and golden on the other side.

If you have a really large non-stick skillet (I’ve seriously never made these in my stainless pans and had them not stick like concrete) it’s nice to cook them all at once so they’re done at the same time.

You can serve them with a little sour cream or plain yogurt and a sprinkle of green onions if you want them to be pretty.  That golden brown crispy part seriously tastes like fried hash-browns, and the little bits of melty cheese throughout make them feel naughty.

They make a yummy appetizer, or a great side dish to a summer meal.  Bonus score:  my kids totally devoured this batch, and I didn’t tell them it was zucchini until after.  Let them dip them in ranch.  Boom.