Zucchini Fritters and Grilled Peach Salad, Summer on a Plate

We're rapidly approaching five months of working from home.  One would think that I'd have had plenty of time to blog.  Unfortunately, I've been busy listening to all kinds of economists chatter on about all this chaos in our world instead of blogging in my "spare time."  Now, that doesn't mean I've slacked off on trying new recipes.  Not at all.  We've been eating at home and trying new things regularly.  In fact, we've had a couple of dishes that have been so fabulous that we've had them again right away.  

Eons ago a gal who Connie played bridge with told him that she had a very close friend who also had a blog.  She introduced us and it turned out that Liz and her hubby, Bill, live across the street from a friend of mine from high school.  Steve and his wife Pam are two of Liz and Bill's best friends.  Small world.  The six of us have had some great dinners together.  Now, we're plotting and planning a cocktail party around Liz and Bill's pool so we can enjoy each other's company AND socially distance.  I'm bringing some skewers of fun.  Connie and I spent dinner brainstorming...  Narrowed a list of about 30 options down to ten.  Probably ought to narrow that more, eh?

The reason I bring up Liz is that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her blog.  Thatskinnychickcanbake.com.  And, boy can she ever.  She also is a magnificent cook.  Early this summer I'd printed off a recipe for zucchini fritters.  It stayed in the stack with my list of foods to use up and recipes to try.  But, it didn't get made.   Until I got the zucchini club from my friend, Shelli.  I'm serious.  I could've hurt someone using that thing as a club.  I knew it had to be shredded.  And, zucchini bread was out of the question.  Too ordinary.  I wanted something new and different.  Ah Ha!  Liz's zucchini fritters.  I made one small modification to her recipe.  We didn't have any green onions so I substituted a small shallot.  

Along with the fritters I was going to make a salad.  I had a bunch of kale to use up and a new recipe from my friend, Linda.  But, I also had a load of peaches from the Peach Truck.  So, on to the internet I went.  There, I found a grilled peach and apricot salad from Food52.  That one would be modified a lot before I was done.  But, the base was a fabulous idea.  You massage kale with olive oil, drizzle in some lemon juice then top it with prosciutto, grilled peaches and feta.  Since I was grilling the peaches, I also grilled the prosciutto and some red onion.  And, blue cheese sounded better than feta.  Especially since we both love peach halves grilled with blue cheese.  If I had the wedges of blue cheese ready to go, I could put them on top of the hot peaches and the cheese would get a bit melty...  

What did we think?  Both of these were make the next night recipes.  Absolutely fabulous.  I loved the grilled prosciutto because it added a subtle crunch to the salad.  Different textures are always fun in a dish.  And, the hot peaches with the slightly melty blue cheese were heavenly.  The peach juices combined with the extra virgin olive oil and lemon made a divine dressing.  

Zucchini Fritters

serves two

Ingredients:

1 lb (about 2 medium) zucchini, coarsely grated

salt

pepper

1 egg

2 scallions or 1 small shallot, finely diced

1/2 c flour

sour cream or yogurt

chives

fleur de sel

Directions:

Toss the zucchini with about 1 tsp of salt.  I used a fine colander with a plate beneath it and pressed on the zucchini several times.  I had to empty the plate a couple of times.  What you don't want is for the zucchini to retain too much water or you'll wind up with mushy fritters that won't brown.  

Beat the egg then add in the scallions or shallot followed by the flour.  Then, add the zucchini.  Heat oil (I used olive oil) to shimmering before you put the zucchini mixture into your skillet.  I used about 1/4 c per fritter and smashed it into about a 4" diameter round.  When the first side was nice and brown, I flipped them.  I served mine with sour cream.  Liz suggests chives and fleur de sel also.  

adapted from thatskinnychickcanbake

Grilled Peach on Kale Salad

Ingredients

serves four

one bunch kale

1/4 c extra virgin olive oil

1 T lemon juice

two large peaches, halved

six-eight slices prosciutto

four 1 oz wedges blue cheese or gorgonzola

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

Directions:

Tear the kale into bite-sized pieces.  Be sure to discard the stems.  Toss the kale with a tablespoon of the olive oil and massage it until it's softened.  Mix the rest of the olive oil with the lemon juice in a separate bowl.  Lightly brush the peach halves with olive oil.  Put them in a grill basket cut side down.  Add the sliced onions and prosciutto to the grill basket.  Grill over direct heat until the peaches are caramelized.  Crumble the prosciutto and scatter it over the kale.  Scatter the red onion slices over the kale.  Drizzle dressing over the salad.  Top with the peaches and then the wedges of the blue cheese.  Do all this asap so the hot peaches soften the blue cheese.  

adapted from Food52