Vegetable Medley Fritters with Garlic Mint Tzatziki Sauce

Hi all! We are Moorea Hall and Alma Pietri, two members of Slow Food and the Food Co-op who love to cook and make up recipes. We will be posting a weekly recipe here of our own devising to help give you some ideas for using your CSA share!

This week's recipe is Vegetable Medley Fritters with Garlic Mint Tzatziki Sauce. For our vegetables we will be using the parsnips, leeks, zucchinis, and pattypan squash we received in this share. We'll also be throwing some mint into the sauce- but let's all be honest and admit we'll be using most of our mint for mojitos.

Start by washing all your produce- this is the local good stuff, but that means it also has some local dirt on it! Then peel your parsnip, like you would a carrot.

Grate up your parsnip, zucchini, and pattypan squash (those are the cute little yellow ones). You don't need to peel the zucchini or the squash. If you don't have a grater you could try *really* thinly chopping everything but it might not stick together as well. Chop the white part of the leek up to the leaves. The medallions will break apart when you mix everything.

Mix all that good stuff together.

Add three eggs (only two pictured) and 1/2 cup of flour. Also one teaspoon of salt and some black pepper to taste. Mix everything up- you can use your hands!

Heat up a skillet, generously coated in oil. Wait a few minutes for it to get really hot to avoid "first pancake" syndrome. Put some nice fist-sized dollops of your veggie mixture in to fry. It should take under a minute for each side.

Flip those babies over when one side is browned.

Yum. Try not to eat too many while you're cooking- it's tempting! Trust me though, the sauce is worth the wait.

Ok so for my version of Tzatziki sauce, which is a delicious Greek specialty, I just mixed together plain Greek yogurt, minced garlic, mint, lime juice, and chopped cucumber. Easy as that.

Serve hot, topped with cool Tzatziki, and you're in business! The whole process really doesn't take more than 30 mins or so! Yay! Enjoy.

Vegetable Medley Fritters with Garlic Mint Tzatziki Sauce
Yield: 16 fritters

Ingredients:

For fritters

• 1 large parsnip, grated or thinly chopped
• 4 small zucchinis, grated (about 2 cups grated)
• 2 medium pattypan squashes, grated
• 1 large leek, cut into medallions (about 2.5 cups grated)
• 3 medium eggs (we used the ones from our lovely Egg Share!)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt 
• Black pepper to taste
• Canola/vegetable oil for frying

For Tzatziki

• 1/2 plain Greek yogurt (not vanilla guys, unsweetened plain)
• 4 large slices of cucumber, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 lime, squeezed
• 3-4 mint leaves, finely chopped

Instructions:

1. Wash everything, especially the leek. Peel and grate parsnip. Grate zucchini and squash. Chop leek into thin medallions (that will later break apart). Mix everything together in a large bowl. 

- Tip: don't use the stalk of the leek but you can save this to fry up with eggs or use in a stir-fry. Leeks are in the same family as onions and can be substituted. 

2. Add flour, eggs, salt, and pepper to vegetable mixture. Mix together well (we recommend using your hands). 

3. Generously coat a skillet or pan with canola or vegetable oil, turn stove onto medium heat and allow the pan to heat up a little 

- Tip: they hold together much better if you let the pan get hot before putting them in. Think "first pancake"). 

4. For Tzatziki sauce just mix everything together in a small bowl. 

5. Serve your fritters hot, topped with a healthy dollop of Tzatziki!