Cheese

Zucchini Fritters and Balcony Garden Harvest

~ Lynn ~ 15 Comments

I’ve been sick for the last couple of days. I think it’s from walking through all those puddles. Everyone knows germs get in through your feet, that’s why moms insist that their kids wear socks.

When I’m sick I crave comfort foods. One of my favourite comfort foods is french fries, but I wasn’t about to start peeling potatoes in my current state. So I started thinking about what else could satisfy my craving for deep-fried goodness. It hit me as I was looking through the vegetables in my fridge: zucchini fritters.
But I didn’t just want fritters. I wanted something cheesy to dip them in. The only cheese I had was goat cheese. Goat cheese dip sounded pretty good to me. Since I’m sick I decided to throw something healthy into the mix, the first cherry tomatoes from my balcony tomato plant.

The fritters and dip were delicious, but to be honest my favourite part of the meal were the tomatoes. There was something so satisfying about eating fresh tomatoes, bursting with flavour, that I grew myself.

I used Martha Stewart’s Zucchini Fritter recipe, and I based my dip on this recipe from Chatelaine.

Zucchini Fritters

  • 1 medium zucchini, grated
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • a handful of parsley, chopped
  • chives, chopped
  • 1 egg
  • pepper
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • oil for frying
  1. Combine the zucchini, salt, parsley, chives, egg and pepper in a bowl. Mix well.
  2. Add the flour and mix until there are no lumps of flour.
  3. Heat the oil in a small pan. Using a tablespoon take a small amount and make a ball with the batter.
  4. Fry 4 or 5 of the balls for 2-3 minutes a side until golden brown.
  5. Once cooked place on a paper towel lined plate to drain the oil.

Goat Cheese Dip

  • 140 gram package goat cheese
  • 1/2 cup yogurt
  • 1/2 tsp  coarsely ground black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • chives for garnish
  1. Mix all ingredients except for the chives in a small bowl until well combined. If the mixture is too thick and more yogurt.
  2. Top with chopped chives.

Enjoy!

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Magazine Monday: Mini Tomato Chèvre Tarts

~ Lynn ~ 8 Comments

You may have noticed that my posts aren’t very challenge-like lately. I’ll admit, I haven’t worked as hard on this one as I did for the sugar free challenge. I think the rules this time around are too lax. Organic chips are still chips after all. All I really have to do is have a smoothie and go for a walk. How hard is that? I need a challenge that is actually challenging.

But I’m trying to shape up a little, starting with this post. The April 2010 issue of Chatelaine has a recipe for a Classic Tomato Chèvre Tart that really caught my eye. I’ve decided to make it challenge friendly by making the crust out of whole wheat flour and eliminating the sugar. I could have gone the extra mile and substituted the milk for something non dairy, but that seemed like overkill (and to be honest could have been disastrous). I also decided to make the tarts mini for easy office-lunch portability and for the cuteness factor.

These smelled soooo good in the oven. I could hardly wait to have a bite. And when I did have a bite, it was like a little bit of goat cheese heaven.

Bonus, this recipe is really easy to make, it took me just a few minutes to get the dough and the filling together.

I’ll be submitting this post to Cream Puffs in Venice for Magazine Mondays. Be sure to check her blog to see what all the other Magazine Monday-ers are up to!

Mini Tomato Chèvre Tart

  • 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup cold butter, cut into cubes
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 150 g goat cheese
  • salt & pepper
  • 3 plum tomatoes, diced
  • 1/4 cup snipped chives

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, combine flours, butter and salt with your hands until a it takes on a crumbly texture. (This can be done in a food processor too). Add liquids and stir till ingredients for a ball.
  2. Press dough into a muffin tin. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
  3. Preheat oven to 400.
  4. Combine eggs, milk, cheese , chives and salt and pepper in a bowl.
  5. Put some diced tomato in each muffin cup. Pour 1/3 cup of egg mixture into each muffin cup.
  6. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until filling is set.

Enjoy!