That moment when you return home from a wedding weekend….a weekend in which you ate a lot of wedding cake, had a few gin and tonics, and then attended the after party in which unlimited free pizzas were materializing on tables in front of you….
I was looking to detox a bit. I also came home to CSA produce in various states of peril. In particular, the zucchini was staring me in the eye saying now or never (actually not sure if it is zucchini or some lesser known variety of summer squash.) I decided to make zucchini pancakes and began perusing around the web to see what recipes to use for inspiration. The key points seemed to be:
- grate the zucchini (and other veggies too)
- wring out excess moisture
- add binding agents of eggs and flour
- fry or bake
Since I was feeling the health vibe, I went the baking route. I improvised a recipe using what I had, and they were a really yummy Sunday dinner that came together quickly. The leftovers also made an excellent lunch the next day. I plan on making them again with the next truckload of squash I will get on Thursday. Viva la CSA!
Vegetable Pancakes
- 5 small unidentifiable squash varieties, grated
- 10 tiny, delicious, farm fresh carrots, grated
- one red onion, grated
- zest of one lemon
- 3/4ish cup of flour
- 3 eggs
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grate your squash, carrots, onion, and zest into a bowl. It looks like a healthy rainbow!
All of these veggies have a high water content. You can mess about with cheesecloth or what have you, but I just took fistfulls of veggie glop and wrung them out in my hands over the sink. It was actually very soothing, like a vegetable stress ball. An astonishing amount of water will come out of these veggies.
Next, add flour and egg. Whenever I make patties or pancakes I always fret about the consistency of the batter- you want it to hang together and not be too wet, but you also don’t want to taste too much flour. I googled veggie pancake consistency and found nothing helpful. I decided to go for a consistency that reminded me of muffin batter- very wet but sticks together when you shape it.
I oiled baking sheets and plopped the mixture into circles. I then cooked about 15 min, flipping over mid-way through. If you are lucky and have a broiler, you can use it to brown the top and bottom, but I actually got a pretty nice crust just from the oven and we have a weird broiler drawer that only fits things the size of playing cards, so….
I combined greek yogurt, lemon juice, salt, and basil to make a sauce to eat atop each pancake.
Cooking From Afar 
Looks delish and super healthy! This would make a great 2AM “lunch” for night shifts! (on #2 of 5…)
Stand up paddle boarding – super fun and easy!! New Maine toys?? I would highly recommend!
PS – this is a very similar approach to how my mom makes potato latkes every year for Hanukkah! She does it with mostly potato, but also adds a bit o’ zucchini and onion. Then she fries em. Less healthy, but very delicious.
These look awesome! I’m hoping that at some point, our squash plant will actually grow in the garden and we’ll have lots of zucchini to make these with. I will definitely be trying this out.
And agreed with Naomi–SUP (stand up paddleboarding) is awesome. I like it so much more than kayaking or canoeing. I’m even gonna say that we should have a trip in our not so distant future where we do some serious SUP.