“But I thought you liked roasted vegetables?” Jamie said brandishing a whole bag of courgettes at me.
“Yeah I do.” – I don’t.
“No you don’t I can tell you don’t” He said, getting increasingly upset.
“Well I do, I just don’t like courgettes.”
“What do you mean you don’t like courgettes?! We eat courgettes all the time!”
Jamie’s right, we do eat courgettes all the time but rarely in their natural slimy state – barf. I grate the little buggers to avoid ‘soggy courgette syndrome’. Grated, cooked and tossed in garlicky pasta can make courgettes a very pleasing thing, see my Courgette & Spring Green Lumaconi recipe. But we had pasta yesterday so had to come up with something else. FRITTERS! Oh wait, I’m not a huge fan of fritters either, oh dear… Fuck it, let’s make them away – I haven’t had a fritter for years. Fritters, along with the ‘vegetable stack’ and ‘stuffed peppers’ are a rubbish vegetarian mealtime staple. But I’m going to reinvent this sad starter and make it into a delightful midweek main by cramming them full of feta and serving them with a homemade pickle. Let’s do this.
Courgette feta fritters with cucumber pickle
Serves 2 / Hands on time 30-40 mins / Total time 30-40 mins / V
You’ll need: Large non-stick frying pan, foil, oven-proof plate
Pickled cucumbers
3 tbs white wine vinegar
½ tsp caster sugar
1 garlic clove, crushed or grated
½ red onion, finely sliced
½ cucumber, peeled into ribbons – middles discarded
Fritters
3 spring onions, finely chopped
100g of vegetarian feta, crumbled
2 handful frozen peas
Handful fresh mint leaves, chopped
2 courgettes, grated – middles discarded
½ tsp salt flakes
2 eggs
3 heaped tbs wholemeal flour
Rapeseed oil for frying
Chilli jam to serve (optional)
Lime wedges and zatziki to serve (optional)
Method
1. In a small saucepan, heat the vinegar and sugar together over a medium heat until dissolved. Remove from the heat, add a pinch of salt, garlic, onions and cucumber ribbons – discarding the soft middles. Give it a good mix, ensuring everything is well coated in the pickling mixture. Put to one side.
2. Meanwhile, heat an oven to 70°C/50°C fan/158°F/gas mark 1. Heat a large oven-proof plate.
3. In a large bowl, add the spring onions along with the peas, crumbled feta and fresh mint. Give it a good stir and add the grated courgette – grate the courgettes on all sides, discarding the soft middle and season well with salt and pepper. Give it another mix and start incorporating the flour bit by bit. Add the eggs and beat until combined.
4. Add a tsp to a large non-stick frying pan over a medium to high heat. Once hot, load up a tablespoon with the mixture and carefully drop into the pan before flattening with the back of the spoon. Repeat until you have 3 or 4 fritters fitting comfortably in the pan. Cook for 2 minutes before flipping over with a spatular. Cook for a further 2 mins or until golden brown.
5. Once cooked, transfer the fritters to the hot plate in the oven and continue until you’re out of mixture.
6. Discard the cucumber pickle liquid, shake off any excess and serve with the warm fritters, a dollop of zatziki and a couple of lime wedges.
If you’ve had a go at making any of my recipes, I’d love to hear from you. Follow me now @corrieheale and tag your recipe pictures using #corriesrabbitfood.
V – Vegetarian
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