The recipe this is based on came from a bariatric friendly cookbook (I’ll get around to reviewing it for here eventually.) I tweeked it for quantity, and to better suit my own tastes… and the cookbook calls it Zucchini Pancakes. I described this to a friend last night and she goes “you mean zucchini latkas…..”
Yea, I had to look up just what latkes were. Ok fine, I know I don’t have to be Jewish to cook Jewish foods any more than I have to be Italian to cook spaghetti… but I couldn’t come up with a better title for the post. So there. Actually here… here’s how they looked upon completion.
And no… those aren’t monster shrooms, they’re baby bellas… that’s a saucer, not a full size plate.
Anyways, on to the food… I’ve been in a cooking mood this week, and you guys get the benefits of my trials and errors. I tried these last night… and they were good… good enough that I wanted to have them again, but they were missing a lil somethin’-somethin’. I made them again tonight, and yea… I nailed it.
Keep in mind, this is for my tastes… try it, and if you aren’t impressed, I won’t refund your money but you can try again and mix up the spices a bit more to your liking.
Start out with about 1 pound of zucchini (2 medium) and shred them. A food processor works just spiffy for this. Dump the stuff in to a colandar and sprinkle a liberal teaspoon or so of salt over it all. This helps draw out the water… and there’s a lot of it. Let the colandar sit over a bowl or the sink for 20-30 minutes.
While that’s sitting take 2 eggs out of the fridge and set them on the counter and then put the following into a small bowl.
- 2 Tablespoons shredded Parmesean cheese (fresh if you have it)
- 2 Tablespoons dried basil leaves
- 1 Tablespoon fresh chive, chopped finely
- 1 teaspoon lemon pepper (you should be using the no-salt kind)
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic (again, not the kind with salt in it)
- 1 teaspoon Splenda (about 1 packet if you go that route)
Once your zucchini’s been sitting there for bout 30 minutes, give the stuff a very quick rinse and then using a nice clean dish towel (or a wad of paper towels), wrap up the zucchini and squeeze the heck out of it to get as much water out of there as you possibly can. Then give it a few more squeezes for good measure. Work with half the stuff at a time if it’s easier. You should end up with about 2 cups, give or take.
Stir the zucchini and spices together until mixed up reallly good, then put back in the colander, cause it’s still going to keep giving up water. Heat up your griddle or skillet to medium-high (about 350 degrees).
Now this part gets a little tricky, but I think you can handle it.
Separate the egg whites from yolks for both eggs, putting the whites in a clean bowl. Use stainless or glass… or copper if you have it. Yolks… do whatever with them.. I ended up tossing them cause couldn’t think of a use for them. Leave a comment if you have an idea for what to do with them next time I make these.
Add 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar to the egg whites if you have it. If you use a copper bowl, you don’t need the tartar. Basicially, the cream of tartar (or using a copper bowl) helps keep the egg whites from separating as fast once you beat them. And that’s what you do… using a good wire whisk, beat those egg whites until you get stiff peaks. You can cheat and use an electric mixer, but I did it by hand in about 3 minutes. Stiff peaks mean if you pull the whisk out the whites stay standing… like this…
Now fold the zucchini mixture in to here and place about 1/4 blobs on to the hot griddle (use some cooking spray to keep them from sticking!) and use the back of a spatula to flatten them out to about 1/4 inch thickness, like so…
Let them cook for about 5-6 minutes on the first side, carfully flip over and cook about another 5 minutes on the second side… they should brown up nicely… like this…
Now latkes are traditionally served with sour cream, and I imagine it would go really good. But I don’t have any on hand, fat-free or otherwise… so I tried mine with a bit of ranch dressing and they were very good. Even plain, these are good, but a nice sauce or some sort just dresses them up that much more.
You’ll get about eight of these out of the recipe… and I think there’s about 2g of protein per. Not a heck of a lot, especially for me at three months out. While they are tastey enough to be a main dish item, I really should only do one of these as a side to my main protein. I made a half-batch and so have a couple left over. I’ll see how they hold up in the fridge and reheating with my dinner tomorrow.
Oh, and if you’re wondering, I sauteed the ‘shrooms in a lil bit of olive oil and when they were about done added a splash of Worcestershire sauce and few shots of my home-made hot pepper sauce. Yum.
You know, I recently bought a bag of TVP (textured vegetable protein), as I’m looking for new ways to amp up my protein intake. I bet you could add some to this recipe, since TVP takes on the flavor of whatever you mix it with. I’m gonna try it!
For those egg yokes… put them in a quiche or custard… or make your own Mayonnaise or Hollandise Sauce.
Yum.