The Tucci Fried Zucchini Fritters

These fritters certainly are not Easter-y by any means but I had a hard time finding an Italian appetizer that didn’t involve bread or cheese. Because bread and/or cheese already occupied 3 of the 5 dishes I had planned for Easter (including the Panzanella Salad Angie made), I didn’t want 4 of the 6 dishes we were eating to involve bread and/or cheese.

These fritters also hail from The Tucci Cookbook as evidenced by the recipe title. I don’t believe I exactly followed the recipe (added an additional zucchini because the zucchini amount called for did not feel sufficient to feed 5 people) and it’s a good thing I did because this recipe yielded 14 tiny fritters. Tiny in my estimation because I like foods to be, well, big!

Tiny worked in this instance because we had a lot of food going on for our Easter meal. Everyone got a little taste of the fritters before we fairly quickly moved on to the salad. I served them with garlic aoili because I felt as though they needed a dipping sauce. I made a homemade aioli instead of a quick aioli I’ve made in the past. Angie is not fond of mayonnaise so I didn’t want to use a dip made of mayonnaise (even though the homemade aioli recipe I used is basically an olive oil garlic mayo).

The immediate reaction when the fritters were served was a resounding THESE ARE AMAZING from my guests. I agreed when I bit in, but I can’t vouch that they were amazing without the dipping sauce because I didn’t try any without it. The aoili was that good.

ingredients.

• 3 medium sized zucchinis, washed and dried and grated
• 2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 large egg
• 3 to 5 T. all-purpose flour
• ¼ c. finely grated pecorino Romano cheese
• olive oil, for frying

directions.

1. Place the grated zucchini in a colander and toss with salt. Place the colander over a bowl and let stand for 30 minutes or overnight. (I did this step the night before.) The bowl will catch the green water that will drip from the zucchini.
2. Squeeze all the water from the zucchini by wringing small portions of zucchini between your hands. This takes forever. When finished transfer the zucchini to a bowl. Add the egg, cheese and 3 tablespoons of flour to the bowl. Stir with a fork. Add more flour as necessary to create a mixture that holds together.
3. Add olive oil to a small frying pan and heat to medium-high. When the oil is not (not smoking), scoop out rounded tablespoons of the batter and add to the pan. Flatten slightly with a spatula. Fry the fritters until they are golden brown and then flip – each side may take up to 3 minutes. (You can see I overcooked mine using the marker of 3 minutes!)
4. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate to drain before serving.

This recipe was a group effort. Angie grated and salted. I squeezed the water from the zucchini (which takes a looooooong time). Angie mixed the remaining ingredients; I fried the fritters (obviously a bit too long as they look a bit dark).

Would I make these again? Hell yes.

Recipe rating: 