Kelly Rossiter
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I mentioned in my last soup of the week post that some people get a bit wild-eyed when faced with a huge harvest of zucchini and no means of consuming it all. So, it turns out, does our vegetable lady. When my husband stopped in she handed him an absolutely enormous zucchini and tried to press a second one on his as well. When he demurred, saying that there were only two of us to eat it, she insisted, with a definite edge of panic to her voice. Luckily, my daughter arrived with two friends for dinner. Even with five of us, we didn't manage to eat the whole thing. For a laugh we put one of the zucchini next to the sleeping dog and yes, it was as long as my nine month old puppy.
I had a huge hunk of ricotta cheese in my refrigerator and I was thinking of making some kind of casserole with the zucchini, but I don't have an oven at the cottage and I didn't have a pan I could put on the barbeque. I found this recipe for zucchini cakes and substituted ricotta for the feta called for. They were milder and not as salty as they would have been with the feta, but we all loved them. I still have that second zucchini to deal with and now my husband is nervous about going back to the vegetable lady for fear of having to buy more. I'll just have to keep thinking up new ways of cooking it.
Zucchini Cakes with Dill and Feta
1 lb zucchini
2 medium onions
olive oil
1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped
3 tbsp flour
1 large egg
1/4 lb feta cheese
1 small bunch dill, chopped
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- Coarsely grate the zucchini into a colander, sprinkle lightly with salt and leave in the sink for half an hour or so.
- Chop the onions finely and warm them gently with a little oil in a shallow pan. They should soften but not colour. Pat the zucchini dry with paper towels or wring them out lightly in your hands. Add the garlic and zucchini to the onions. When all is soft and starting to turn pale gold, stir in the flour and continue cooking for a couple of minutes or so, with the occasional stir. Remove from heat.
- Beat the egg lightly and stir it into the onion and zucchini mixture, then crumble in the cheese and the chopped dill. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper.
- Heat about 3 tbsp of olive oil in a shallow pan and drop tablespoons of the mixture into the hot oil and let them cook until they are golden on the underside. Turn carefully as they will be fragile, and cook on the other side. Lift the cakes out with a spatula and drain briefly.
Makes about 6 cakes
Difficulty Level: Easy
From The Kitchen Diaries by Nigel Slater.
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