Healthy Meal / oregano

One thing we all have in abundance right now are zucchini's, either from your own garden or from your neighbors leaving bags full on your doorstep.  Your welcome!  A summer squash saute with onions, topped with fresh basil is my easy go to for abundant zucchini.  Making pancakes with zucchini is a bit more interesting and they freeze really well so this is a nice way to make dinner, or breakfast, and save all the leftovers for later in the season.  

In this recipe I use chick pea flour for best flavor and because it's gluten free, lower in carbohydrates and very nutritious.  There is also a super low carbohydrate option: coconut flour.  The measurements are different since coconut flour has a very high fiber content and will absorb much more liquid than the chickpea flour will.  Either one is delicious.

On our way to dinner with friends, I reheated these under the broiler in a few minutes.

Ingredients:

8 Cups shredded zucchini

1 shy cup of finely chopped onion

2-3 cloves of garlic, pressed or finely chopped 

zest of a small lime

1 Tablespoon of lemon juice

2 teaspoons dried oregano

Black pepper and salt, to taste

4 medium sized eggs, beaten

1 Cup of flour: chick pea works great, oat flour or spelt is nice too.  For a super low carbohydrate option (Atkins, Candida Diet, etc) substitute with only a 1/2 cup of coconut flour.

Method:

Shred the zucchini, by hand if you want a work out or with the shredder attachment on your food processor.

Toss the shredded zucchini with salt and let it drain in a colander over a bowl for about 20 minutes.  I know it's tempting to skip this step but it is crucial to ending up with yummy pancakes instead of globs of mush. 

8 cups of shredded zucchini, salted, and set to drain into the bowl below.

Beat the eggs in a large bowl (large enough to accommodate all the ingredients), add in the onion, garlic, lime zest, lemon juice, oregano and black pepper.

Go back to your sweating zucchini after 20 minutes and give it a good squeeze. Really get in there and squeeze as much liquid out as you can.  I got a full jam jar and then some and my zucchini was reduced in size by about half.  

After 20 minutes and a lot of squeezing!

You can save the zucchini water for soup or you can be super hardcore and just drink it, it's good for you!  I diluted mine with some ice water, it was a bit too salty, and added a shot of Fire Cider.  

Once the zucchini has been squeezed and drained, mix it in with the eggs and seasonings. 

The mixture will be soupy, which is where the flour comes in.  Add the chickpea flour, 1/4 cup at a time till your zucchini mix is like thick muffin batter. Mine usually takes about one cup. You are now ready for frying!

I used my large cast iron skillet to cook these since I use my large cast iron skillet for everything.  Add organic peanut, coconut or grapeseed oil to generously coat the pan and turn the heat to medium high.  You can make these pancakes as small or as large as you want just be sure to get them nice and brown on each side- about 3 minutes each. Set them on a plate covered with paper to absorb the excess oil.  

Serve immediately, topped with fresh goat cheese and more fresh oregano.  

Or, let them cool completely on a cookie rack.  Wrap them up and store them in the freezer.  They make an excellent quick meal, just unwrap and pop them in your toaster oven or under the broiler.