The Goods Are Odd

From the first time I made zucchini fritters last summer I knew I would be hooked on endless variations. Zuc season is now here and the fritters fry again.

With already a couple batches made, I wanted to change things up. Not just with the veggies involved, which I did, but with the overall texture. The last time we ended with with sort of savory pancakes, with a thick batter

They were tasty but they just didn’t take us the way a fritter can. The were doughy, when they should be mostly veggies, almost juicy, fried up crispy.

To make this latest batch I decided to take out the flour and add much more pink. Specifically I had about seven small beets that were lovely looking a few weeks previous when gotten at the farmer’s market. But as always with beets, I just never got around to using them. My neighbor and I were talking about this love of the beet flavor but the lack of inclination to actually get the kitchen stained magenta and do something with them. Now that I had let them get a bit deflated I thought fritters might be the motivating medium.

I came across this nice blog and she had a very similar issue and solution. Her recipe also solved the heavy batter problem, only using about 1 tablespoon of flour for every cup of veggie hash and 1 egg for every two cups. I also used this recipe which had similar proportions. Knowing that I will have different amounts of veggies every time this was a good ratio to have in mind.

I actually ended up with about three cups beets and three cups zuc and used just a touch more flour because I was impatient with the drying out process.

With zucs from the garden and the market beets this made for a cheap and delicious four servings. I saved half the batter for another dinner.

The resulting batter was hardly batter at all, but I would say something closer to hashbrowns. Yum.

They are so meaty and bright they almost look like hamburger

Served up with the evening’s other project of basil pesto

One other change for me in this process was using olive oil to fry. I have been educated by friends on the ways in which my high-heat canola oil might not be consistent with my overall value and health standards for food. I tried to defend it with the issue of olive oil’s low smoking point. But in the interest of adapting to new information I tried to see if I could fry with enough heat that wouldn’t make the olive oil smoke. I heated the pan, then added the oil and worked quickly. For the first time I didn’t let the pan get too hot and all the fritters fried up well.

It’s difficult to get the middle of the fritter fully ‘done’- they certainly don’t get crispy through and through. I’m not sure they need to. With the less doughy batter I had better results as I sometimes felt like I was eating raw batter- but this time I just got a crispy crust and a juicy middle, which I can live with.