Zucchini Kuchen

When I took a German class back in the day, we read a recipe in the "Kochen" chapter for zuccinni fritters. I forget the word for fritters now- it could be "Kuchen" (which is commonly used to for all cake like things- like potato pancakes are Kartoffel Kuchen) or it could be Schmalzgebackenes. Steven and I are going to Frankfurt to visit friends and for part of our "honeymoon," so I've had Deutschland on the brain. We got about 1 lbs. of local organic zukes the other day, so I looked up a zucchini fritter recipe, with minimal frying oils. They were easy and Blokey approved. They could probably be baked in the oven as well.

Lower-fat zucchini fritters (adapted from Spark Recipes)
1/3 c. of whole wheat flour
1/2 teas. of baking powder
1/2 teas. of salt
1/8 teas. of pepper
dash of paprika (Hungarian)
2 eggs, beaten (replace with appropriate amounts of Ener-G egg replacer or thickened ground flax seed to make vegan)
3 c. of shredded zucchini (about 3-4 medium sized ones)
1/2 small onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic
2 Tbs of fresh parlsey, chopped.
Olive oil for cooking


Method:
Mix together the whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, paprika, and eggs. Add the rest of the ingredients (except the oil) and mix well.
Warm up about 1/2 Tb of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Use a 1/4 measuring cup to drop rounds onto the skillet. I fit 4 into a 10" pan.
Cook about 3-4 minutes on each side.
Serve with apple sauce, plain yogurt, or some jam (seriously).

Oven fried salt and vinegar crips

I have been intrigued by Heidi Swanson's grilled salt and vinegar potatoes since it was posted. I passed along the recipe to Anne of Shepwell Kitchen a few weeks ago, and she tried it with a garlic bath. My first time trying this, in an oven, I sliced the potatoes a wee bit to thick. The thinner ones were better, so I decided when our CSA gave us about 2 lbs of potatoes and the weather dipped below 85 to give it another go. But thinner this time.

Salt and vinegar oven crips

Ingredients:
4 c. or so of white vinegar
salt
5-6 medium sized waxy potatoes (we used red ones)
olive oil (for tossing)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Fill a medium sized saucepan with vinegar and bring to boil (I left the heat low so I could take my time with the potato cutting).
Wash and cut out the eyes of the potatoes. Peel if you're using conventional (non-organic) ones. Slice real real thin, but not paper thin. Try to be as consistent as possible. A mandolin would probably help but those things scare me.
Place as many slices that will reasonably fit into the vinegar bath. Bring to boil and then simmer for about 5 minutes. Take out the potato slices with a slotted spoon, and place into a large bowl. Add the remaining potato pieces and repeat process.
Be sure to drain out excess vinegar juice. Toss the potatoes with just enough olive oil to coat. Place in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Salt. Bake for 4-5 minutes, then flip them over, and bake again 4-5 minutes. Keep a good eye of them so they don't burn. A little crisp is perfect.
I had to make two trays full.


Served as a side dish to our go-to summer dinner- big ole' salad. (There are no black olives in this salad, just dark purple carrot coins).

These were quite vinegary, just enough salt, and not too bad for you. I try to take Michael Pollan's advice seriously- you can eat junky treats, as long as you make it yourself (from scratch).