Pickled zucchini & fritters
If your garden is bursting with zucchini, here are two simple and delicious recipes that can be whipped up in no time!
The first is pickled zucchini or giardiniera in Italian, and the second is zucchini fritters or frittelle.
Naz Cugliari, our chef-in-residence from Il Forno Restaurant in Hampton, Victoria, shows us how!
Pickled Zucchini | Giardiniera
Ingredients
1 white zucchini, deseeded and chopped into thick pieces (approximately 1-2cm thick)
1-2 carrots, chopped into thick pieces
1-2 green tomatoes, chopped in thick slices (ensure it’s nice and green and firm, and not a lot of seeds in the pieces)
2 green banana peppers, cut in half, deseeded and sliced thickly
3 tablespoons of salt
Cup of white vinegar (you just want to ‘wash’ the vegetables as opposed to ‘drowning them’ in vinegar.
Method
Deseed the white zucchini and green tomatoes
Chop all vegetables into thick pieces, 1-2cm thick (they need to be thick so that they don’t disintegrate while pickling in the vinegar and salt over the 24 hours).
Sprinkle a liberal amount of salt, approximately 3 tablespoons over the vegetables and mix thoroughly.
‘Wash’ the vegetables with white vinegar. You don’t want to ‘drown’ the vegetables.
Mix really well and set aside. After 12 hours, give it another good mix.
After 24 hours of pickling, squeeze out any liquid from the vegetables.
Tightly pack the vegetables into a jar and fill with cold pressed virgin olive oil.
When pickled, these vegetables are a wonderful addition to an antipasto platter, or on their own with fresh bread, cheese and salami on the side.
Zucchini Fritters | Fritelle
Ingredients
Two large zucchinis, grated
Plain flour (match the quantity with the zucchini; so if there’s 2 cups of grated zucchini, add 2 cups of flour.
Cup of water (add slowly, as you’re just wanting to make a batter)
Salt
Anchovies
Chilli
Method
Mix the zucchini and flour in a bowl.
Slowly pour in water until it makes a nice thick batter
Sprinkle salt in the mixture.
Separate the batter into three bowls (one will be kept plain)
In the second bowl, add some chilli, to taste
In the third bowl, add some anchovies, to taste
Heat up olive oil in a pan until hot.
Pour small portions of the batter into the frying pan.
When the edges are brown, flip over. You want them to be a nice golden/ dark brown to ensure the batter is cooked through.
Fry them all up and serve as a snack or as part of a main meal.
