Sweet Chili, Corn, and Zucchini Fritters

This week's entry comes from my cookbook, "Now You're Cookin': Vegetarian" (link here). It seems like a simple recipe, but I actually found it quite challenging and needed some help from my mom. I'll explain later how I remedied the situation and hopefully, should you attempt to make this, you can avoid my mishaps.

Sweet Chili, Corn, and Zucchini Fritters

Ingredients:
14 ounce can whole kernel corn
2 medium zucchinis
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon sesame oil (I happened to have this in my pantry, but if you don't want to buy it for just one recipe, use vegetable oil)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cucumber
1/4 cup and 3 tablespoons sweet Thai chili sauce (I actually only had the 1/4 cup and didn't want to run out to buy more, so I subbed the 3 tablespoons for Sweet 'n Sour sauce)

Serves: 3 or 4 (Calories: 114 per fritter); Prep time: 20 minutes; Cooking time: 20 - 30 minutes

Directions:
1. Drain the corn. Trim the zucchini and grate it coarsely.

2. Mix the corn, zucchini, flour, baking powder, eggs, milk, and 3 tablespoons Thai chili sauce together until the batter is smooth(ish).

3. Mix oils together (or not, it's your choice) and heat in a frying pan. Cook quarter cupfuls of the corn mixture in hot oil until golden and cooked on both sides.

4. Cut cucumber in half and remove seeds (I used a spoon for this). Cut into 1/2 inch cubes and mix with 1/4 cup Thai chili sauce.

5. Serve cucumber mixture with fritters.

Recipe review: As far as the actual cooking goes, here's where I went wrong. First, I got confused about the Thai chili sauce, and put the wrong amounts in the fritters and topping. Second, I didn't coarsely grate the zucchini, I used a food processor and got it finely grated. That doesn't seem like a big deal, but it really is. The finer grate made my batter too runny. I had a hard time forming and flipping the fritters and the first three ended in disaster:

They're in the corner of shame. I remedied it by adding more flour to my mixture. My mom thinks in the future, it might also be easier to flip them if they're on a griddle instead, so keep that in mind. As for the taste, they were delicious. We actually all agreed that the cucumber was unnecessary. I went even further and thought they were best without the Thai chili sauce on top (it is in the batter, after all). When I ate one plain, it tasted like a Frittata, which is never a bad thing.

Happy eating.

Cheers,
Emma

P.S. Today's cute animal photo is my kitty Tobey.

Eggs Florentine

Okay, so I actually made this dish like a week and a half ago and totally forgot to post the recipe until now. The recipe comes from my cookbook, Good Food Made Simple: Vegetarian (Link here).

Eggs Florentine

Ingredients:
1 pound fresh spinach leaves, washed
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (the recipe says to have extra for greasing the pan, but I just used Pam spray)
3/4 cup sliced white button mushrooms
1/3 cup pine nuts (it says toasted, but I forgot that step and it still tasted good)
6 scallions, sliced
4 eggs
3 tablespoons flour (it says whole-wheat flour, but I used regular)
1 1/4 cups milk, warmed
1 teaspoon English mustard (I used Dijon)
3/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese
salt and pepper

Serves: 4 (Calories: 477 per serving); Prep time: 20 minutes, according to the cookbook, but mine was probably 40 minutes; Cooking time: 40 minutes

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375. Get the excess water of off the spinach, put it in a large sauce pan over medium heat, and sprinkle with a little salt. Cover and cook 2 - 3 minutes, until wilted.

2. Drain the spinach, pressing out the excess liquid.

3. Chop the spinach and place in a greased ovenproof dish. I waited a few minutes for the spinach to cool before I chopped it.

4. Heat 1 tablespoon of the butter in a saucepan over medium heat (I cooked every part of the meal in the same pan to save on dishes). Add the mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.

5. Add the pine nuts and scallions and cook for another 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

6. Spread the mixture over the spinach.

7. The next step is to poach the eggs. I have a fancy gadget for poaching, but you can do it the old-school way.

8. Arrange the poached eggs on top of the mushroom mixture in the pan.

9. While the eggs are cooking, melt the remaining butter in the saucepan and stir in the flour. Cook for 2 minutes.

10. Remove from the heat and gradually stir in the warmed milk. Return to the heat and cook, stirring continuously, until the mixture boils and thickens.

11. Stir in the mustard and 1/2 cup of the cheese. Continue stirring until the cheese has melted. Season with salt and pepper, then pour over the eggs evenly.

12. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

13. Cook in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes, or until the top is golden brown. Serve and enjoy.

Recipe review: It seems complicated because I broke it down into so many steps, but it actually is really easy. It's best to read all the directions first, and figure out what steps can be done at the same time. Also, next time I make this, I think I'll double the spinach. It cooks down a lot. Anywho, my grandma, friend Vanessa, and I agree that this dish is amazing - definitely a keeper!

Happy eating.

Cheers,
Emma

P.S. Today's cute photo is my cat Izzy lying on top of our napkins.