Zucchini, Potato and Herb Fritters

bluemoon downunder's Note:

Adapted from a recipe in 'The Australian Women's Weekly's TAPAS antipasto mezze'. Be vigilant about squeezing all the liquid from the vegetables and, after thoroughly squeezing out the liquid, pat the vegetables (except the garlic which is likely to stick to the paper!) with paper kitchen towelling. This is a recipe where it's a good idea to have all your ingredients ready before grating the vegetables and grating the potatoes last so they have less time to turn brown! The weights indicated are approximate so the following approximate weight equivalents should give you an idea of the general amount required: 410g = 13oz; 375g = 120z; 75g = 21/2 oz. The number of fritters you get will depend on what size you make them; the number that the fritters will serve will, of course, depend on how many appetisers or other dishes you are serving as part of an antipasto mezze platter.

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 6-8

Yield: 34.0 fritters

• 2 medium potatoes, peeled, grated coarsely (400g)
• 3 medium zucchini, grated coarsely (360g)
• 1 medium yellow onions (for Americans) or 1 medium brown onion, grated coarsely (for Australians)
• 3 garlic cloves, finely minced or 3 garlic, to taste
• 1/2 cup self-raising flour
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon fresh mint, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper or 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• sea salt, to taste
• olive oil, for shallow frying
• 200 ml Greek yogurt (reduced fat is fine) or 200 ml sour cream (reduced fat is fine)
• 1 tablespoon fresh mint, finely shredded

Directions:

1. Squeeze all the excess liquid from the potato, zucchini, onion and garlic, and use paper kitchen towelling to further pat dry the potatoes, zucchini and onion. One method is to put the vegetables into a small colandar or sieve, place this on or over the sink and press down on the vegetables several times.
2. Combine the potato, zucchini, onion, garlic, flour, egg, mint, basil, pepper and salt in a large bowl.
3. Pre-heat the oven to hot. 220°C or 425-450°F or gas mark 7-8.
4. Heat oil in a large, preferably non-stick pan, and shallow-fry level tablespoons of the mixture, until the fritters are browned on both sides, place on paper kitchen towelling to absorb excess oil then transfer the fritters to oven trays and bake uncovered for about 10 minutes or until they are crisped and cooked right through.
5. Combine the yoghurt and extra mint.
6. Serve the fritters immediately with the yoghurt and mint topping.

Reviews

[Sydney Mike]

Made these as finger food for a group I host each month & served them with the suggested Greek yogurt, as a very nice change from my usual sour cream ~ THESE FRITTERS WERE A BIG HIT & I'll definitely make them again! When recipes call for mint I usually omit it, but didn't this time & am so glad since it added a nice dimension to the flavor! [Tagged, made & reviewed in Please Review My Recipe]

[FloridaNative]

Made these to go with our dinner tonight and they were quite tasty, though I think I needed to add more onion and salt - they didn't have quite enough "umph" for my tastes, though DH loved them just the way I made them, as written. Served them with sour cream, will make them again and serve with Greek yogurt (thought I had some tonight, but did not). Thanks bluemoondownunder. Made for PRMR, Dec 2008.