I am not honestly too sure how this recipe came about… I suspect it was something of a ‘throw it all together’ lunch that happened to work out. Initial attempts were prone to disintegrating but the addition of a few breadcrumbs helps them stick better and, more importantly, the whole family including the toddler and the eight month old are big fans. You could absolutely sub the courgette for carrot or broccoli or just about any veg you can finely grate but, for me, courgette is the winner.
Cooking is bringing me so much joy right now – of course I enjoy the eating part but, honestly, that (almost) uninterrupted half hour in the kitchen preparing a meal is my down time, I focus and unwind at the same time and it is a treat…
COURGETTE, QUINOA, MOZZARELLA FRITTERS WITH AVOCADO SALSA
Ingredients (Makes 8 fritters)
3 tbsp olive oil
2 medium courgette, finely grated and squeezed
250g cooked red and white quinoa (I use this one)
1 slice bread, whizzed in the food processor or Nutri Bullet into crumbs
2 eggs
1 ball mozzarella, chopped into 1cm cubes
ground pepper
1 large avocado
8-10 cherry tomatoes, chopped
juice of half a lime (optional)
Mix the courgette, quinoa, breadcrumbs, eggs, mozzarella and pepper in a bowl. Heat half the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Meanwhile mash the avocado and mix with the tomatoes and lime juice to make your salsa.
When the oil is hot form the fritter mix into patties in your hands, I use a wooden spoon and press the shape into my palm before gently placing in the frying pan. These babies are a little fragile (it’s the quinoa that does that and, yeah, you could omit it and just sub for more breadcrumbs but I enjoy the notion of quinoa) so treat them gently – do not nudge them, do not shoogle them, do not prod or poke them – just keep a watchful eye over them. After around five minutes they will be golden and should be easily turned with a spatula. Side two – same deal. I cook my eight fritters in two batches and keep the first lot warm in the oven but if you have an extra pan you could absolutely make them all at once… in fact, I am one hundred percent doing that next time (I literally just thought of that as a legit option).
When the fritters are all golden and lovely on the outside and oozy mozza in the middle, serve them immediately with the avocado salsa on the side. Enjoy.
BABY/TODDLER EDITS
The beauty of this one is that there are no edits for the tinies. The edit is really for the adults – add salt. I grind salt on the fritters and the salsa. Simples.
Do let me know if you try it #ThankfifiFood
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DETAILS
serving dish – Zara
roman bowl – Habitat
ceramic spoon – Anthropologie
wooden board – TK Maxx
These look so good and such a grown up way to display them, haha! i used to make zucchini (what you call courgette) fritters a lot when the kids were little but ours didn’t look quite as fancy and they weren’t displayed quite so beautifully, haha! 🙂
Hope your week is off to a good start 🙂 It’s a busy week here with the kids back at school!