Zucchini pancakes with feta

by Olesia Guts

When at the age of 18 I suddenly decided to become a chef (before then, I could barely fry an egg without burning down the house) I wasn’t sure how to approach it at first. I knew I wanted to move to Paris and study at Le Cordon Bleu, but I figured I would need to gain some experience first. As someone who goes all-in once she sees a goal, I bought a ton of cookbooks and started cooking through the recipes one by one. 

One of my favorite ones was Ramsay’s zucchini fritters with pine nuts and feta. I hate pine nuts and love feta a lot (maybe too much) so for years I’ve been tweaking and changing ratios and ingredients until I found my perfect fit. There were a ton of herbs in the original batter but I felt like they were making the flavor too busy, so I turned them into a sauce. Long story short, here are my Zucchini fritters 2.0.

Zucchini pancakes with feta

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat
Rating: 5.0/5
( 11 voted )

Ingredients

Zucchini pancakes with feta (13-15 fritters)

  • 2 medium zucchini+1 tsp of salt 
  • 2  shallots
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 100 grams firm feta cheese 
  • 2 medium eggs
  • ½ tsp herbes de Provence
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 5-6 tablespoons vegetable oil for frying

Instructions

  1. Grate zucchini on the large side of a box grater. Add 1 tsp of salt, mix well and set aside for 10 min. This will draw the excess moisture out ensuring crispiness of your pancakes. 
  2. In the meantime, finely chop or grate shallots and garlic. Mix in a big bowl. If you are not a big fan of garlicky taste, mince your garlic as finely as possible so it cooks through during the frying process. 
  3. Chop your feta into small cubes and add to the mixture. It is important to use a chunk of feta in brine rather than its pre-crumbled version. Crumbled feta is just too dry for this recipe (and too dry in general). 
  4. Transfer zucchini into a sieve and press well to get rid of extra liquid. You can also line your sieve with a clean kitchen towel beforehand for even better results. Once dry, taste a piece of zucchini - it should be just a little too salty, but not too much.  It will get balanced out by other ingredients once mixed.
  5. Add zucchini to the feta-onion mixture. Add herbes de Provence, baking powder and flour and mix thoroughly. Taste for salt once more before adding eggs and add some salt, if necessary. Beat eggs in a separate bowl first and then add to the mixture. Mix all ingredients just until well incorporated. 
  6. Heat 1 - 2 tbsp of oil on medium high, then reduce to medium. Add ¼ cup batter per fritter to a pan. Flatten each of them with a measuring cup or a spoon. Keep in mind that if you spread the batter flat and thin your fritters will get more of a crispy crunch to them:)
  7. Fry on each side for 3-4 min adjusting the heat if they brown too fast. Once golden brown and crispy on both sides (I show the right color in my iGTV video), transfer them to a baking sheet covered with a paper towel (no baking sheet is needed if you plan on eating them right away). 
  8. The best option is to eat them hot right off the pan. If you have to wait- stick the fritters into a 375 F oven for 5 min before serving. You can serve them with sour cream, creme fraiche or my herby-lemony dressing.
Did You Make This Recipe?
If you tried it please tag me on Instagram @olesia.guts. , I will be so happy to see your creations!

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1 comment

Maria 09/19/2020 - 07:26

This recipe is the reason I always have zucchini in my fridge. They are my ultimate comfort food. They are SERIOUSLY good!

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