You can make these Italian-style fritters with virtually any raw vegetable, though broccoli or cauliflower, greens, and eggplant must be cooked first; see the variations. Salting the raw vegetable usually improves texture, but it isn’t essential. But always take a moment to squeeze the raw vegetables dry.
Other vegetables that can be used are: grated sweet potatoes, carrots or parsnips, winter squash, celeriac, chayote, beets, turnips, rutabaga, or kohlrabi; sliced or chopped okra, celery (use the leaves too), rhubarb, chilies or bell peppers, mushrooms, bean sprouts, green beans, or sugar snap or snow peas; or use whole shell peas.
Ingredients:
- About 1 1/2 pounds zucchini, trimmed and grated or chopped
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup fresh chopped parsley leaves
- 1/2 cup freshly grated or roughly chopped Parmesan
- cheese
- 1 clove garlic, peeled
- Pinch cayenne
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs, preferably fresh, or all-purpose flour
- Neutral oil, like grape seed or corn, for deep-frying
- Lemon wedges for serving
Steps:
- If you like, put the zucchini in a colander, sprinkle a pinch of salt and let it stay for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour; rinse.
- Step 2: Put the zucchini in a towel and wring to remove the excess moisture. Beat the egg in a large bowl and add the zucchini, parsley, cheese, garlic, cayenne, and bread crumbs. Toss with a fork to combine thoroughly. If you didn’t put salt in the vegetables in Step 1, add a pinch of salt to the mixture now.
- Put at least 2 inches of oil in a deep pan on the stove over medium-high heat; bring to 350°F. If you’re going to serve all the fritters at once, heat the oven to 200°F. Drop the fritters by the 1/4 cup or large spoonful into the hot oil; you’ll probably need to raise the heat to maintain the temperature.
- Cook the fritters in batches, turning once, until they turn golden brown on all sides, a total of 4 to 6 minutes per batch. Drain the fritters on paper towels, then eat them as they are done or keep them warm in the oven until they are all done.
- Sprinkle with additional salt if you like and serve with lemon wedges.
Broccoli or Cauliflower Fritters: Boil the broccoli or cauliflower heads; drain well and
chop roughly. Proceed with the recipe from Step 2. Greens Fritters. Use chard, collards, spinach, watercress, Asian greens, or cabbage: Boil and shock the greens; squeeze all the water out of them and
chop roughly. Proceed with the recipe from Step 2.
- Eggplant Fritters. Trim and peel the eggplant, cut it into chunks, and then blanch it in boiling water until just tender, 5 minutes or so. Drain well, pressing down in the colander to make sure it’s dry. You can also cook the eggplant according to Dry-Pan Eggplant or Grilled or Broiled Eggplant and leave the skin on.
- Pulse in the food processor until finely chopped and add to the egg along with the remaining ingredients in Step 2.
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