Tom Philpott
September in Austin is a slightly awkward time at the farmers market. Months of brutal heat has finished off most of the summer harvest, but the fall goods like kale, collards, and winter squash aren’t quite ready yet. One thing you can still get in abundance is zucchini, which I love—but at this point, I can’t do any more grilled, sauteed or roasted zucchini slices. So when I picked up a few beautiful ones recently, all I could think to do with them was grate them into fritters.
Fritters sometimes strike me as too fussy. But doing it this time reminded me just how quick and easy they are—and delicious, too. Served over a salad—even a kale salad—with a glass of white wine or lager, they’re a great late-summer light dinner.
Zucchini Fritters
2 medium zucchini
2 eggs
1 teaspoon sea salt
A fistful of parsley, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed, peeled, and minced fine
A good lashing of freshly ground black pepper
A pinch of red-hot chile clakes
1/2 cup flour (hippie that I am, I used whole wheat)
Olive oil, for pan frying
Belle of the September market: zephyr zucchini Using a box grater, grate zucchini into a large bowl. Move the shredded zucchini to one side of the bowl, tilt the bowl, and give the zucchini a squeeze to press out excess water. Discard the water. Put the zucchini back to the bottom of the bowl and spread it to the edges, creating a hollow in the middle. Crack the eggs into the hollow, add the rest of the ingredients except for the flour and cooking oil, and whisk the eggs with a fork, roughly incorporating everything, until the egg is uniformly yellow. With a wooden spoon, gently stir everything together. Spread the flour over the mixture evenly—to a avoid lumps—and gently stir in to combine.
Heat a large, heavy bottomed skillet over medium heat and add enough oil to generously cover the bottom. When the oil is very hot, using a table spoon, drop in mounds of the zucchini mixture, pressing gently. Avoid letting them touch. Cook until they’re well browned, and flip. When they’re browned on both sides, they’re done.
