Goat Cheese and Zucchini fritters

When it comes to fritters, the reaction from my family can be conflicting. Surprisingly enough, fritters are a controversial subject of love and hate. My sisters always wanted them baked in order to limit the caloric intake, my mum only conceives them in their traditional deep-fried version.

As far as I am concerned, I could savor them in any variant as long as I do not have to prepare them myself! In fact, their preparation requires attention and patience, both departments I am not known to excel at :).

A few weeks ago, on a rainy and cold Sunday, I opened my fridge to find just some lonely vegetables and my favorite goat cheese,  the 100% pure goat cheese from Chavroux.

The goat cheese has a very intriguing airy texture and delicate taste, it’s just perfect to enjoy as a spread on bread, or even just with a spoon. Being in the mood for cooking and experimenting I decided to integrate it into a new dish mixing it with a small quantity of the pure goat cheese to add extra flavor.  

Remembering the success of my zucchini fritters it was not difficult to come up with a recipe that combines zucchini with the creamy and melt-in-the-mouth texture of the cheese.

The difficult part was getting ready to fry. I do not like frying. Not-at-all. But can one achieve a mouth-watering contrast between a crisp, lightly browned surface and the delicacy of cheesy inside?

As a compromise between the two schools of thought (baking versus frying), I opted for shallow fry so I cooked my “fritters” in oil with a depth that reaches about a third of their thickness with the fritters still touching the bottom of the pan all throughout.

What I ended up with, in the end, is something delicious halfway between a fritter and a pancake. I served them warm on a leafy fresh salad coming up with a dish still “fresh” and light. Tasty and fragrant, crispy on the outside and melting inside with the goat cheese heart. They won me over at the first bite.

They were originally thought as an appetizer but I quickly changed my mind after a few bites. I could not stop eating them! I recommend to serve them perhaps after a soup and together with a fresh salad in order to make a complete main course out of them (just serve at least 3 fritters per person, in this case).

I might have created a no conflict fritter recipe for my family! I’ll be soon heading back home to Italy and I look forward to put the recipe to the test at a family dinner. In the meantime, if you try the recipe I would love to hear your opinion. 

Thanks to Chavroux for sponsoring this tasty recipe.