Eat Close To Home

This time of year, I take most Fridays off to work in the garden and put up the harvest. This helps keep it somewhat fun, and keeps me from getting totally burned out.

Yesterday, I harvested the first zucchini and potato from the garden, so I decided to make these for breakfast. They take some time but are really easy.

Zucchini-potato pancakes

• 1 medium zucchini
• 1 large potato (you should have equal parts zuke and potato)
• 1 small onion
• 2 Tbl flour
• 1 egg
• Salt
• Dill (optional)
• Oil for frying

Shred the zucchini, potato, and onion. Sprinkle well with salt and put it in a sieve to drain for about half an hour. This is really important – if you don’t do this, the pancakes will be too wet and will steam into mush rather than frying up crispy.

After 20-30 minutes, squeeze as much water as you can out of the veggies. It’ll be a funky brown color; no worries – that’s just the potato starch reacting to the air. Put the veg shreds in a bowl, add some more salt, the flour, egg, and dill (or any other herbs or spices you like).

Heat a frying pan (cast iron is the best) and a couple tablespoons of oil. (I used bacon fat I’d been saving in the fridge.) When it’s hot, drop about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the batter into the pan and shape it into a pancake about 1/4″ thick. Fry until golden on one side (6-7 minutes) then flip over and cook until it’s done (another 6-7 minutes).

The best topping for these, in my opinion, is raw sauerkraut. The plain cakes are a little bland, but the salt and crunch of the kraut makes them shine!