Zucchini Pancakes

This summer I am trying harder than ever to make sure that Alex and I have at least one vegetarian meal a week.  We just have so many veggies in the fridge from our CSA, it is impossible to use them all without having at least one vegetarian evening per week.  The problem with our vegetarian nights is that they often involve a ton of carbs - pasta, bread, etc.  But tonight we decided to make zucchini pancakes from a recipe I found on the NY Times website, and serve it with some caprese salad.  Lots of vegetables (and cheese), but no carbs!  Good for us.

These pancakes were really good.  They had nice flavor and I really liked the yogurt sauce with them.  I also thought they were a novel way to use up more zucchini.  After all, you can only eat so much pasta with zucchini and/or zucchini bread.  But Alex and I both agreed that we would prefer the Thai Corn Fritters we made a few weeks ago to these pancakes, mostly due to the texture.  These pancakes had a nice crispy exterior, but they got soggy fast and the interiors had little to no texture.  The Thai Corn Fritters retained their texture better - mostly due to the profusion of sweet corn kernels, and they had more explosive and fresh flavors.  They just tasted so much brighter, probably due to the sweet chili dipping sauce and the amount of cilantro.  But since these zucchini pancakes were so different, it's hard to compare them to the Thai Corn Fritters.  If I were to make these pancakes again, I would tweak them to give them more texture and more fresh, herbal flavor.

Recipe after the jump!

Zucchini Pancakes
NY Times

April 7, 2009

By Elaine Louie

INGREDIENTS:
For the pancakes:

3 medium zucchini, shredded

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 large eggs, beaten

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 tbsp evoo

1 cup feta cheese crumbles

3 scallions, thinly sliced

1-2 tbsp fresh mint, finely shredded

1 tsp baking powder

4-6 tbsp vegetable oil, more as needed
For the yogurt sauce:

2/3 cup plain yogurt

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.  Place zucchini in a colander over a bowl, and mix with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Allow to drain for five minutes. Transfer to a cloth kitchen towel, and squeeze hard to extract as much moisture as possible. Squeeze a second time; volume will shrink to about half the original.

In a large mixing bowl, combine zucchini and eggs. Using a fork, mix well. Add flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, olive oil, feta, scallions, mint and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Mix well, add baking powder, if using, and mix again.

Place a cast iron skillet or other heavy skillet over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and heat until shimmering. Place heaping tablespoons of zucchini batter in pan several inches apart, allowing room to spread. Flatten them with a spatula if necessary; pancakes should be about 3/8 inch thick and about 3 inches in diameter. Fry until golden on one side, then turn and fry again until golden on other side. Repeat once or twice, frying about 5 to 6 minutes total, so pancakes get quite crisp. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels, and keep warm in oven. Continue frying remaining batter, adding more oil to pan as needed. Serve hot.

In a small bowl, combine yogurt, garlic and salt. Mix well, and serve on the side or on pancakes.