Zucchini Fritters with Tzatziki Sauce

I'm not sure why but I really wanted to try zucchini fritters. Ok, who am I kidding? It's because I love anything fried (and anything called fritter) and the zucchini make it sound healthy so I don't feel too bad about it! I pan fried these fritters so it's not that unhealthy. For this recipe, I turned to kalofagas, my source for all Greek food.



Zucchini Fritters
I strayed slightly from the main recipe, mainly because of ingredients I had on hand.
Adapted from Kalofagas.

* 2 whole zucchinis, washed and grated
* salt
* 1 small onion, diced small
* 1 scallion
* fresh mint, to taste
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* 1 large egg
* ½ cup breadcrumbs (I used panko)
* ¼ cup feta cheese (or to taste)
* salt and pepper, to taste (not too much salt since the feta is salty)

* Grate the zucchini and sprinkle salt over it.
* Allow the liquid from the zucchini to leach for a couple of hours in a strainer (I'm pretty sure I wasn't this patient and probably waited 15 minutes).
* Place the grated zucchini inside a cheese cloth, twist and turn to help squeeze out as much liquid as possible. (I used the little makeshift cloth package my mom sewed me for the homemade soy milk.)
* Place the zucchini in a bowl and set aside.
* In a skillet, cook the onions in oil until softened.
* Mix all of the ingredients with the zucchini.
* In a skillet, fry a small meatball and adjust seasoning to taste.
* Form patties and pan fry in oil on each side, 3-5 minutes per side.
* Serve with tzatziki sauce.



Call me crazy but I find squeezing out the liquid very satisfying work.

Tzatiki Sauce
I like to use my lemon zester to grate garlic. It helps transform the garlic into a juicy paste. I do this for hummus too.

* 1 cup of plain yogurt
* ¼ or so cucumber section, seeded and cubed very small
* juice of ¼ lemon, or to taste
* 1 clove garlic, minced or grated (or more depending on how garlicky you like it)
* salt, to taste

Mix all ingredients and adjust seasoning to taste (that's all there is!).
Tada!


Cubed cucumbers go into tzatziki.

I had the fritters with a side of quinoa as a meal. I was going to share the quinoa recipe but really don't remember what I did with it except that it involved jalapeno. A side of salad would also be good. And these fritters would definitely be popular as an appetizer!



More fried recipes that I like (I thought I had more - I'll have to change that!):
* Crispy Zucchini Flowers stuffed with Ricotta and Mint
* Corn Spring Rolls
* Pumpkin Fritters (perfect for upcoming Thanksgiving!)

Soupe au Pistou (Pistou Soup)

This is the third recipe from foodtv.ca's French Food at Home. I really enjoy Laura Calder's show and I have an endless list of recipes of hers I'd like to make. I like that her dishes look appetizing and are usually fairly easy to make. She also has a bit of quirky personality that I enjoy.

For this soup, I spied fresh cranberry beans at the farmer's market. I just couldn't resist buying them and figuring out what to make later. With basil in abundance in the garden, making pesto for soupe au pistou seemed like a perfect idea.



Soupe au Pistou (Pistou Soup) - Makes 6 servings
From French Food at Home.

* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 1 onion, chopped
* 1 cup green beans, cut into ½-inch pieces
* 1 potato, peeled and diced
* 1 cup carrots, diced
* salt and pepper, to taste
* 4 cups vegetable broth or water
* 1 bay leaf
* 1 sprig thyme
* 1 cup fresh beans or cooked beans of your choice
* 1 cup zucchini, diced small
* 2 tomatoes, seeded, and diced
* pesto, homemade or store-bought, for garnish
* Parmesan cheese, for garnish

Heat the oil in a sauté pan and gently cook the onion until translucent, about 5 minutes.
Add the green beans, potato, carrots and beans (if uncooked).
Pour the vegetable broth or water.
Season with salt and pepper, add the bay leaf and the thyme.
Bring to a boil, and simmer 10 minutes.
Add the zucchini (and the beans if you are using cooked or canned beans) and continue cooking until all the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes longer.
Stir through the tomato.
Ladle the soup into bowls.
(Remove the bay leaf and thyme sprigs).
Add a spoonful (or more!) of pesto to each bowl.
Tada!



While the pesto is only a garnish, it is a defining ingredient in this soup. I thought it added a whole lot of flavour. Without it, the soup was a bit of a bland vegetable soup. I loved the fresh creamy beans in the soup.



Other Laura Calder (French Food at Home) recipes:
* Cauliflower Salad
* Goat Cheese stuffed Mushrooms
* Moelleux au Chocolat (Molten Chocolate Cake)

Updated Recipe Index: Images

There are many improvements that I would like to make on my blog but I'll try to do them one at a time. Today, I have updated the Soup index to include images. It is time consuming but I'll slowly update the rest of the indices on the left and will mark them as new. Enjoy!

Cauliflower Salad

To accompany the goat cheese stuffed mushrooms, I made a cauliflower salad, also one of Laura Calder's (from French Food at Home) recipes. I really enjoy cauliflower in all its forms. I love it raw (give me cauliflower and dip, and I could probably finish a whole head), as well as cooked. I don't even mind it overcooked, as it often is in aloo gobi. I'm actually surprised I don't have any cauliflower recipes - I think I just didn't get nice pictures because I also love making cauliflower soup!



Cauliflower Salad
From French Food at Home.
What attracted me to this recipe were the salty sun-dried tomatoes and olives! I loved both against the crunchy raw cauliflowers with the lemony dressing. I only followed the ingredients and not the amount. I used basil since I don't have tarragon on hand.

* 1 small cauliflower or half a large one
* 1 clove garlic minced
* 2 generous handfuls of sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil
* 2 generous handfuls black olives, sliced
* 2 handfuls of fresh tarragon or basil leaves, chopped
* zest of a lemon and juice to taste
* extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
* salt and pepper, to taste

Break cauliflower into florettes, discarding the central stem.
Slice them thinly and put them in a bowl.
Add the olives and sun-dried tomatoes.
In a small bowl, mix the garlic and lemon zest with the lemon juice and olive oil.
Season with salt and pepper - not too much salt because of the salty components.
Pour the dressing over the vegetables.
Garnish with chopped basil.
Tada!



This salad is even better the next day, once the cauliflower has had a chance to absorb all the dressing.

Goat Cheese stuffed Mushrooms

I enjoy having "small plates" meals. What can I say? I like variety. So on this occasion, my boyfriend A made soup and a Greek salad. I brought over these goat cheese stuffed mushrooms, a cauliflower salad and roasted heirloom carrots (that didn't turn out too well).



Goat Cheese stuffed Mushrooms
I only realized now that the original recipes calls for large mushrooms. I tried to pick the smallest ones and think this size would be more suitable for cocktail parties. I also realized I don't follow recipes very well so I've included the changes I made.
From French Food at Home.

* 1 lb. small button mushrooms
* olive oil
* 1 shallot, minced (or ¼ onion)
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* ¼ tsp red dry chili flakes
* 2 tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves
* 3-4 Tbsp fresh breadcrumbs (I used panko crumbs)
* 1 pinch salt and pepper
* 4-6 Tbsp goat cheese
* 1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley leaves (I only had dried parsley and used that instead)

Remove the stems from the mushrooms, finely chop, and set aside.
Place the caps, holes downwards, on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 375F.
Meanwhile, heat up olive oil in a small pan and fry the shallot until slightly soft, about 3 minutes. Add the chopped mushroom stems until soft, about 5 more minutes.
Add the garlic, chili flakes, thyme and parsley.
Cook for another minute.
In a bowl, mix the cooked mushroom mixture, the goat cheese and all but a tablespoon of the breadcrumbs.
Taste, and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
Remove the mushrooms from the oven and turn them holes upwards.
Spoon the goat cheese mixture into each mushroom.
Top each mushroom with panko crumbs, pressing them into the cheese mixture.
Bake until the tops are golden and the filling is very hot, about 10 minutes.
Tada!


Emptied mushroom caps.


Mixing the goat cheese, mushroom stems and panko crumbs to make the filling.

I was really happy with these mushrooms. They were very easy to make. Each mushroom made for a perfect mushroom-y, salty bite. You can't go wrong combining goat cheese with mushrooms. Yum!


Perfect one bite mushrooms.

Bún măng vịt (Duck and Bamboo Vermicelli Soup)

I realize I have not posted Vietnamese food nor recipes in a while. Well, a visit to my mom's is always a great source for Vietnamese food posts. And what better way to highlight this post than by entering Delicious Vietnam, a blogging event featuring Vietnamese food, hosted this month by Anh from A Food Lovers Journey.

As with every visit home, my mom asked me what I wanted to eat during my stay. In addition to enjoying bánh giò (steamed dumpling with ground pork) and bánh ít trần (mung bean stuffed dumpling), I also requested a dish that we do not often eat: bún măng vịt (bún=vermicelli noodles, măng=bamboo shoots, vịt=duck). I love this soup because of the broth, strongly flavoured from the dry bamboo, the crunch texture of the bamboo (kind of reminds of straw mushrooms - does that help imagine it?) and the fatty duck meat dipped into nước mắm gừng (ginger fish sauce).



Just as phở, the most well known Vietnamese soup (and arguably the most well known Vietnamese dish), bún măng vịt hails from Northern Vietnam. Unlike phở, it is not a mainstream soup and cannot be easily found on restaurant menus. It is distinct due to the use of dry bamboo shoots, which imparts a unique flavour, resulting in a dark, tea-like, slightly pungent broth. While dry bamboo can be found in Asian supermarkets (so my mother tells me), she only uses the ones purchased in Vietnam. My grandmother goes to the market herself and pays a premium for the lower part of the bamboo shoots that are more tender since bamboo shoots can be fibrous. So unfortunately, I cannot speak to the use of store-bought dry bamboo shoots - they may be just tougher.

Bún măng vịt (Duck and Bamboo Vermicelli Soup)
When I called my mom and asked if we could have this soup, I did not give her enough time for preparation. You should plan for a good day because soaking the bamboo shoots take a long time. Unfortunately, I wasn't around when my mom prepared this dish, so there are no how-to pictures.

* 200 g dry bamboo shoots

Soak bamboo for 2-3 hours (or overnight) in boiling water and rinse.
Repeat at least twice until softened (this step also helps remove some of the bitterness from the bamboo).
The bamboo will have softened and also expanded.
Pull apart the softened bamboo into long strings, following along the natural lines of the bamboo.


Dry bamboo.

For the soup
* oil
* onion
* 1 tbsp salt, or to taste
* 2-3 tsp sugar
* one whole duck, skin on
* slices of ginger

In a large soup pot, saute the bamboo with onion in oil.
Season with salt and sugar (the sugar helps balance the bitterness of the bamboo) and add enough water to cover the bamboo shoots.
Turn up the heat until the water boils and turn it down to a simmer.
Meanwhile, cut the duck into pieces.
Season the duck with more salt and pieces of ginger.
Roast the pieces of duck at 350F for 20 minutes and broil to get a golden skin, about 10 minutes on low.
(This step is to render the fat and get the meat golden - the duck pieces can also be fried in a pot.)
Add the cooked duck meat to the soup and add more water to cover everything.
Bring to a simmer.
After an hour or two of cooking, remove the duck pieces if they are cooked so they do not overcook and break apart.
Continue cooking the soup for additional 1-2 hours, for a total of 3-4 hours.
Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and sugar.


Duck leg and bamboo shoots.

For nước mắm gừng - ginger fish sauce
* 1 tbsp water
* 4 tbsp fish sauce
* 3 tbsp sugar
* ginger, greatly minced, or even grated
* lime juice


Nước mắm gừng (ginger fish sauce).

To serve
* bún (rice vermicelli) - how to cook bún
* green onion, sliced thinly
* coriander, washed and leaves picked off

In individual bowls, add a handful of cooked vermicelli, top with the soup.
Garnish with green onions and coriander.
Serve with nước mắm gừng (ginger fish sauce) to dip the meat.
Tada!


Perfect recipe to start the colder weather.

For other Vietnamese soup recipes:
* Bún Mộc (Vermicelli & Pork Meatball Soup)
* Bún Riêu (Crab and Tomato Soup)
* Canh Gà (Vietnamese flavoured Chicken Broth)
* Canh Hến (Baby Clam Soup)
* Canh Khổ Qua (Bitter Melon Soup)
* Cháo Ca (Fish Porridge)
* Cháo Gà (Chicken Porridge)
* Xúp Bát Bửu (Chinese 8 Treasure Soup)
* Xúp Bột Bán (Tapioca and Crab Soup)
* Xúp Măng Cua (Crab and Asparagus Soup)

Figs with Ricotta & Honey

After the Caprese salad and pea ravioli's (yes, I'm still writing about the same meal...), I finished off with figs with ricotta and honey. It's another perfect summer dessert! It seems I've been writing a lot about perfect summer dishes - maybe because I'm already missing summer when there is so much food to inspire me!



I spotted mission figs at the farmer's market. No, figs are not local to Canada - I believe they were from California. Still, you can't always get fresh figs so you should take advantage of them. I added fresh ricotta from the farmer's market and drizzled Yucatan honey (The honey doesn't have to be Yucatan - it's just the one my mom brought back for me from Mexico! She claimed it was extra special somehow.)

Figs with Ricotta & Honey
There are many fig recipes that require baking but this keeps the figs fresh as they are!

* figs
* ricotta
* honey

Slice a thin layer off the bottoms of the figs, just so they stand up.
Slice without going completely through, as if you were cutting 4 wedges from the top.
Spoon or crumble some ricotta cheese.
Drizzle your best honey.
Tada!


I never thought about it but I would put figs in the "funny looking" fruit category!

Marseille, France

My sister L's last post on her honeymoon to France. This is about her and her husband D's stay in Marseille.

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Our stay in Marseille was very short. D’s cousin took us on a "best of" tour. I have to say that swimming in the aqua waters around Marseille was one of the highlights of our trip to France. There are no sand beaches; instead, residents perched atop the rocky coast dive in the water to cool off. Swimming amongst bathing capped ladies doing vigorous breaststrokes at 10 am felt very authentic and the water was perfectly refreshing.

Swimming in the water.

On the way we stopped at Four des navettes, a Marseille institution. Navettes are cookies shaped and named after a legendary canoe that was to bring Saints to the Provençal coast. The cookies are flavoured with orange blossom.


Four des navettes.

We returned to my husband's cousin J for a barbecue à la Marseillaise. The barbecue offered a great selection of sausage including merguez from a halal butcher. Due to its geography, Marseille has attracted many immigrants from Morocco, Tunis and Algeria, who have made the city their home and represent a large population of the city. These Northern African immigrants have influenced the cuisine there. We also had delicious chicken poached and then grilled with fresh rosemary from cousin J’s lovely wild garden. This perfect rustic meal ended with a bowl fresh cherries and strawberries. We were encouraged the toss the pits over our shoulder into the garden.



Barbecue in the Marseille fashion, including merguez and chicken.

For L's other posts about French food:
* Honeymoon in Paris
* L'As du Fallafel
* Best croissants in Paris at Pierre Hermé
* La Crêperie Bretonne
* Bistrot Paul Bert
* Island of Corsica

Caprese Salad

There's nothing more simple than a Caprese salad. One barely needs a recipe but I thought I would post it because 1) I like it 2) it's tomato season and 3) it's just such a pretty dish! Somehow my posts got out of order. You may not have noticed, but it slightly annoys me that this salad that I served before the pea ravioli's is being posted a week later. Ok, I digress.



Caprese Salad
Since this is a very simple salad, you have to go for the best ingredients. I bought heirloom tomatoes from the farmer's market and buffalo mozzarella, and picked basil from my backyard.

* best tomatoes you can find, sliced thinly
* buffalo mozzarella, torn or sliced
* basil leaves, torn if big
* extra virgin olive oil
* balsamic vinegar
* salt and pepper, to taste

On a plate, place a slice of tomato, a piece of mozzarella and then basil.
Repeat in a circular shape, overlapping each ingredient.
Drizzle the extra virgin olive oil, and then the vinegar.
Season with salt and pepper.
That's it - tada!



You could also make this salad "free style" by chopping pieces of tomatoes, adding the mozzarella and basil, and adding the dressing. It's really the perfect salad for summer!

For other summery recipes:
* Fajita Salad
* Four Bean Salad
* Fresh Corn Salad
* Garden Salad with Rice Wine Vinegar and Maple Dressing
* Grilled Pizza with Pesto and Buffalo Mozzarella
* Grilled Vegetable Couscous

Corsica, France

My sister L's post on Corsica, where she and her husband D spent a few days on their honeymoon.

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The island of Corsica, while belonging to France, was colonized by Genoans as proved by its many Genoan watchtowers all over the island; therefore the food is highly influenced by Italian cuisine.

They produce a cheese called brocciu that is very close to a ricotta. It can therefore be as easily used for savoury dishes such as manicotti, or for sweet dishes like these breakfast fritters resembling donut holes.


Fritters filled with brocciu.

Corsica is also well known for its cured meats. Corsican cured meats include prizuttu, a cousin of prociutto, though a bit dryer and served sliced thicker, lonzu, a cured filet of pork loin that is very lean, and of course the saucisson corse. You can see the meats hung up everywhere, they are usually covered in a certain amount of mold which is not washed before serving. But don’t be put off they were very delicious.



Corsican charcuterie.

Another specialty found in Corsica is chestnuts. They are found as preserves as well as in the form of chestnut flour for cakes. We had the chance during one of our stops on our cruise tour to find a young lady selling cakes made with chestnut flour. The ingredient is gluten free and makes a very fragrant cake. Although not quite nutty, the cake was perfectly moist and delicious.


Cake made with chestnut flour.

Other highlights include our meal by the marina in Calvi where I had the most delicious tartare de St-Jacques (scallops) , forwhich I really developed a taste when I had the salad in Paris. The scallops were served with lemon juice and was delicious and luscious. This was followed by a mixed fish brochette that had some lovely spices, I would say Moroccan or Middle Eastern, that are rarely paired with fish but was very delicious.


Tartare de St-Jacques and fish brochettes.

For dessert, I actually chose the cheese platter hoping to have some Corsican cheeses. Unfortunately, I was informed that they were French cheeses. I still greatly enjoyed the Comté and searched for it on our return trip to Paris.


The French way to end a meal: with cheese!

For L's other posts about French food:
* Honeymoon in Paris
* L'As du Fallafel
* Best croissants in Paris at Pierre Hermé
* La Crêperie Bretonne
* Bistrot Paul Bert