Two of My Favorite Things - Zucchini Fritters & Veggie Spaghetti Sauce

I've developed quite a friendship via Twitter with a seemingly random group. We are pediatricians, SAHMs, librarians, writers, and, I believe, a lawyer. One thing we all have in common, the ties that bind, are that we all have children of all age ranges, and we all love food - cultural, natural, tricking-the-kids-into-eating-veggies, cleaning-out-the-pantry food.

Smiles may be one universal language, but so is food, and my tweeps make me smile as well as indulge my love of food.

That being said, and in efforts to utilize more veggies in life, I promised them I'd share two recipes I have that I thought would be too difficult to type out in 140 characters, especially once I got all the twitter handles into the message.

The first I promised is for Zucchini Fritters. These lovelies are truly divine when they're fresh. I thought they got a little soggy after chilling, but I would recommend trying to reheat them in the oven to crisp them up again, if you have leftovers. The recipe is courtesy of a parenting magazine.

Prep Time: 15 minutes plus 2+ hours draining and chilling time

Cook Time: 20 minutes

2 lbs zucchini, cleaned & grated

2 tsp sea salt, plus more for sprinkling

2 large eggs, beaten

3 Tbs freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or other hard Italian cheese

1 Tbs flour

1 Tbs fine breadcrumbs

freshly ground black pepper to taste

Olive Oil for frying

1. Put shredded zucchini in a colander and sprinkle with sea salt. Then, place a plate and weight on top of the zucchini to press out excess water for 2+ hours (put colander in the sink)

2. Transfer zucchini to a clean kitchen towel and squeeze to remove any remaining moisture. In medium bowl, mix the zucchini w/ the beaten eggs, cheese, flour, breadcrumbs, and pepper. (For gluten-intolerance, the flour and breadcrumbs can be substituted). Chill for 1 hour. (Mixture should be soft but not watery.)

3. Fill a deep skillet w/ 1 1/2 inches of oil and heat over medium-high heat until it sizzles. Add rounded spoonfuls of zucchini mixture, taking care not to crowd the pan (remember, adding the mixture cools the oil, so add slowly and carefully). Fry until golden and crisp, about 5 minutes, turning once halfway through. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the fritters to paper towels to drain. Sprinkle while hot with sea salt. Repeat with the remaining zucchini mixture. Serve immediately.

SO YUMMY! I could easily have eaten the entire batch. I ate them plain, though I could easily see this  being dipped into a tzatziki or some other tangy dip.

The other recipe, a fantastic Veggie Spaghetti Sauce, I posted in May of 2011. The only notes I would like to add to this are that it definitely is too watery as it stands. I would recommend either reducing or eliminating the extra 2 cups of water at the end. It requires watching so it doesn't burn as it cooks down, but I think that would make a huge difference in the viscosity. My goals now are to try this w/ spaghetti squash and see how the boys like it. I did begin adding frozen spinach, and that added some interesting issues to the immersion blender - the fibers in the frozen were rather stringy and clogged the blade. I would like to keep the spinach, but I need to determine how to keep the fibers out - perhaps fresh spinach would be better. I also reduced the red pepper and celery and increased the leek, but the beauty of recipes is that they are meant to be tweaked to your own tastes. 

I hope this is helpful to anyone who stumbles upon this page. Happy cooking, all, and Hail to Veggies!