Spicy Zucchini Fritters

When zucchini starts appearing at the farmers markets, it REALLY starts appearing. The same can be said about homegrown zucchini. In fact, those backyard garden zucchini can often top five pounds and at least two feet long. leave a zucchini on the vine a day too long and whoa! You’ve got yourself a baseball bat-sized vegetable.

Zucchini fritters

When you’re dealing with such large zucchini, simply slicing them isn’t always the best idea. The size really makes for some tough slices so I like to shred them. If you’ve got one of those large zucchinis, you can shred the whole thing and make both zucchini bread and these spicy zucchini fritters.

• 1 large or 3 small zucchini
• 2 eggs
• 4 Tbsp flour
• 1 medium hot pepper
• Salt and pepper
• Oil for frying

Shred the zucchini and mince the pepper. In a large bowl, mix the shredded zucchini, the eggs, the flour, the hot pepper, and the salt and pepper. The mixture won’t look like it is going to stick together very well, but it actually will when you cook.

Heat some oil over medium high heat (canola or peanut oil works well). Take a quarter cup measuring cup and pack it with the zucchini mixture. Drop (gently) the zucchini mixture into the hot oil and cook for about 3-4 minutes per side, or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Serve over salad or topped with some chevre.

A short stack

Chef’s Notes: When upending the measuring cup full of zucchini into the pan of hot oil, you won’t get nice perfectly circular fritters that you might get out of halibut or crab or salmon. I think that’s part of what makes these so perfect though. They are, by nature, imperfect. The easiest way to flatten them out is to grease a flipper and use that to press the blob of zucchini into a flat circle when it is in the pan. Some will end up being round and others will end up being a bit more free-form. Even though I’m still not a huge zucchini fan, I really enjoyed these fritters. Try adding some seasoned salt right before serving for added complexity.