Zucchini and Feta Fritters

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Ages and ages ago (probably, almost literally, years ago) a friend told me that her son was an enthusiastic eater of zucchini and haloumi fritters. At the time I thought “oh, that sounds nice, I must make those” and then never got around to it.

We typically don’t eat a huge number of zucchini (I tend to call them courgettes): I love them but Andy is somewhat ho-hum about them. So when it comes to shopping, they always run a very poor second to broccoli (universally loved in our household).

However, recently we’ve had something of a glut of zucchini forced upon us. Mum grew them (in the right conditions they grow like weeds) and there were also a few in my Keane’s vege box.

So the time was well and truly nigh for breaking into zucchini fritter territory.

I had a quick google and cobbled together my own recipe based on what seemed to be very standard kind of territory. These were very quick to make – although you do need to allow a little time for grating and salting the zucchini. Herb-wise you can mess around – I used mint, but dill would definitely work just as well, and some recipes use just parsley. My advice would definitely be to use FRESH herbs rather than dried. And if you happen to have a lemon hanging around, grate the rind of half of it into your mixture.

As always, be generous with your seasoning. It is best to fry one off and adjust the seasoning before committing yourself to the whole batch!

Serve the fritters hot, with salads.

Andy and I loved these. And while these are perfect toddler food, our toddler was not bothered either way.

And if you don’t want to print, download a pdf of the recipe!

Zucchini and Feta Fritters

Ingredients

  • 3 zucchini, coarsley grated
  • 4 spring onions, finely sliced
  • 100g Australian feta, finely chopped
  • ~ 1 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tbsp verjuice (or lemon juice)
  • ~ 4 tbsp plain flour

Instructions

  1. Coarsely grate the zucchini and, in a large bowl, mix through a generous pinch of salt. Set aside at room temperature for approximately half an hour.
  2. Squeeze the moisture out of the zucchini - by hand is fine - and place it in a clean,dry bowl.
  3. Stir through the spring onions, feta and mint and then add the eggs one at a time. Mix through the verjuice and then stir in the flour, one tablespoon at a time.
  4. You may not need all the flour - you want to bring the mixture together but you don't want the mixture to become dry. The more flour you use the greater the risk you'll taste raw flour in the finished product. You're much better off to have a slightly too loose mixture - you can always add more flour once you've fried your test fritter!
  5. Season.
  6. Heat some olive oil in a non stick pan. Add the fritter mix to the hot pan by the tablespoon, taking a moment to spread each fritter out a little. In my 20cm pan, I was able to cook about 4 fritters at a time.
  7. Flip the fritters when the base in browned. They're easy to flip when they're ready. If the fritters have been spread out, they'll be ready when brown on both sides.
  8. Drain on kitchen paper and serve hot.
https://eatingadelaide.com/zucchini-fetafritters/

2014 Cellar Door Festival – Bigger and Better

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Late last year I was asked to be a social media ambassador for the 2014 Cellar Door Festival. There have been a few events for the ambassadors, including a session at OzHarvest and a cheese and wine matching class (I missed that one as I was ham and wine matching in Spain at the time).

As the festival itself is almost upon us (it kicks off next Friday, 14 February) the final ambassador event was held last week at the Adelaide Convention Centre. We were treated to an ‘amazing race’ style evening – charging around the centre, learning more about both the festival and local produce. After we’d built up a head of steam, several of the ‘new producers’ who are being showcased by PIRSA were on hand to chat to us about their foods and participation in the festival.

My partner, Rubina, and I didn’t quite manage to win the race part of the evening (though if there had been a prize for making the most noise, taking it seriously and getting into the spirit of things in an over the top manner, we would DEFINITELY have won that!) we did come in a creditable third (out of five).

For me, probably the most interesting part of the race was trying the alpaca carpaccio. Alpaca is probably not a meat you’ll have come across before. While it’s been eaten in South America for centuries its appearance on Australian menus is still very novel. I had a lovely chat to Perry from Fleurieu Prime Alpaca, and I recommend checking out the meat at the festival. It’s extremely lean, tender and very gently flavoured. You might also find some alpaca on the menu at Pranzo in the CBD.

While the festival is, of course, about wine (and a bit of beer, too!), this year it has a much greater focus on food. Of the producers I met last week, many have a strong emphasis on native ingredients so festival goers will have the opportunity to try plenty of new foods – both at the Farmers’ Market and from individual producers.

This year, the festival’s masterclasses also have a strong food theme. On the opening evening (Friday 14 February) Marion Grasby will be hosting a Valentine’s Day Extravaganza (you can win tickets to this over at McFuzzlebutt’s Manchen – NOTE, you will need to purchase your own Cellar Door Festival tickets separately). Over the course of the weekend she is also hosting two further classes (Summer Entertaining and Asian Favourites) and there are seafood, cheese and, of course, wine focussed classes.

Classes do need to be booked in advance: full details are on the Cellar Door Festival website.

Victoria Hotel – now a Graziers Steakhouse

squid

date of visit: Sunday 2 February 2014

Something like two and a half years since our last visit to the Vic. Or, at least, since my last review of it. I’ve actually had a couple of other meals there but nothing that’s made the Eating Adelaide cut!

With the awful hot weather and an Entertainment Book voucher burning a hole in our pockets it was by far the closest (and no doubt best airconditioned!) way of getting fed in relative comfort. The website says that dining opens at 6pm but some friends had given us a heads up that it was now 5:30pm – and, when I took the precaution of booking, it turned out that this is correct. The bistro has been rebranded as a ‘Graziers Steakhouse’ (I have no idea at what point that happened) and on entering there is a sizeable fridge with cuts of meat at the bar.

Aside from this novelty, the menu is really standard pub fare. There are, of course, schnitzels, salt and pepper squid, a pie, various pasta/risotto/pizza options. The children’s menu is very disappointing. If you are offering prime (or, indeed ‘primal’, as the table-talker says) cuts of meat, starting at 200g for the adults, would it kill you to offer smaller pieces of meat (say, rump) for smaller patrons? I know one three year old who would have loved to tuck into steak, chips and salad … Instead, the children’s menu features the ubiquitous chicken nuggets, followed by panko-crumbed fish (“oh, good!” I thought) … shaped as stars. I know some children are picky eaters and will only eat a limit range of foods, and I guess I have no problem with these things being on children’s menus … but I like my child to eat food that LOOKS like food and I would love venues (especially those billing themselves as family friendly) to offer child friendly portions of at least some of their ‘adult’ menu.

So spaghetti and meatballs it was for the toddler.

schnitzel

Of course, we needed to order with at least half an eye on what the toddler was going to eat from our plates. Salt and pepper squid for me and beef schnitzel with gravy for Andy. Both came with chips and salad. The schnitzel was ludicrously large and the gravy was served on the side. The salt and pepper squid was not quite so generously proportioned, although I found it quite enough (and I had half of my dinner eaten by the toddler). The squid was very finely scored and was very tender, although the batter wasn’t nearly as crispy as it should have been. The salad was, however, fresh and crunchy and not overly drowned in dressing (I say that as someone who prefers no dressing, so I’m overly harsh!). Andy demolished the enormous schnitzel and rated it quite highly.

Service-wise things were a little uneven. The bar staff were a bit unsure of their product (“which beers do you have on draught?” was met with “the board has the beers”) and I suspect that they were understaffed. Our drinks, ordered with our food, took an age to come out and my Riesling was way too warm. I’m just glad I wasn’t there an hour or so later. The flip side was that the kitchen obviously had things well under control. The food came out very sharply indeed – which is just what you need with a little person in tow (“where’s my dinner?” is a feature phrase of his at the moment!).

It’s also worth noting that the Vic now has an indoor children’s play area. However, the way the dining areas are configured, it’s possible to sit and eat your meal totally unaware of its existence. Remember this when you book!

Overall, I would have to say that the food was probably an improvement on the last time we dined in together and I imagine that come winter, we’ll be heading back to try out the pie. However, the Vic is our local. I don’t think I’d drive out of my way to have dinner here – I’m sure your local is pretty much the same thing!

Victoria Hotel
Main South Road
O’Halloran Hill SA 5158
phone: 08 8298 6633