So You Grew a Garden… Now What? 10

** This post was imported as a part of my top 30 from my old blog – What’s Cooking in the Orange Kitchen**

It’s time for another zucchini recipe! This recipe comes courtesy of Pastor Ryan via the Pioneer Woman blog. It is another recipe that I knew I would make the moment I saw it, almost a year ago. At the time our zucchini plant wasn’t producing very much but I kept the recipe in a little file in the back of my brain. When I decided to do this garden series I knew without a doubt that this would be a part of it. I am so happy that I didn’t forget about this little gem because they were SO GOOD. If you have zucchini in your garden right now, you.must.make.these.

Zucchini Cakes
(Slightly adapted from Ryan Dretzel via The Pioneer Woman)

Ingredients

1 large zucchini
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 – 3/4 cup of Italian style breadcrumbs
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
2 eggs (add 1 first then if the mixture is too thick add the 2nd)
1/2 tsp thyme
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Kosher salt and Freshly ground black pepper
Olive Oil

Directions

Shred a cleaned and dried zucchini with the large holes of the cheese grater. Squeeze the shredded zucchini using a clean kitchen, removing as much liquid as you can. (I was surprised how much liquid came out!)

In a medium bowl, stir together the shredded zucchini, garlic, breadcrumbs, cheese, egg, salt, pepper and thyme. Check the texture. It should be batter like and not “crumbly”. Add the second egg if needed.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. When the oil is hot enough, carefully drop the batter into skillet (about 2-3 tbsp of batter) and flatten a little with a fork. Cook for two minutes or until the bottom is golden brown. Flip and cook for another 2 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve with ranch for dipping.