Courgette/ Zucchini Cakes

I have a confession to make: I was one of those weird kids who loved veggies. My mom must have been the happiest mom on the planet because she didn’t need to come up with tricks so I would eat them. However there were a few exceptions: raw carrots and cooked courgettes. I’m still pretty picky with the carrots but when it comes to courgettes I honestly can’t remember why I didn’t like them back then. Now, I can’t wait for them to be in season! Love that they are so versatile and I can make appetizers, cakes and all sorts of side dishes out of them.

One last thing before jumping to the recipe, you still have a a few days to participate in this month’s Original Recipes Round-Up (deadline: August 15th). Time flies faster than an F-16 so I’m sending this recipe for the event.

culinarty roundup logo

Ingredients

  • • 1 courgette/ zucchini
  • • 1 medium egg
  • • 1 ½ cup pastry flour
  • • ½ cup finely chopped onion
  • • ½ cup ivory bell pepper cut into small dice
  • • 1/3 cup finely shredded parmesan
  • • 3 Tbsp fresh dill – chopped
  • • 1 Tbsp fresh parsley – chopped
  • • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • • 3 Tbsp finely chopped dry vegetables (a mix of carrots, parsley leaves and roots, white and red onions, tomatoes, parsnips and celery root)
  • • Salt – to taste
  • • Freshly ground white pepper – to taste

Directions

Peel the courgette then grate it coarsely. Collect the grated courgette in a medium mixing bowl. Sprinkle with 1 ½ tsp salt and set aside for a while to draw out some of its juices.

Chop the onion and the ivory bell pepper. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, then toss in the chopped onion and bell pepper. Stir and sauté for a few moments until they both soften a bit (the onion should be translucent). Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Stir and cook for another minute. Set aside to cool for a couple of minutes.

Chop the dill and the parsley leaves. Drain the excess juices from the grated courgette then squeeze with your hands and collect in a big mixing bowl. Toss in parsley, dill, sautéed onion and bell pepper, parmesan and mix well using a spatula. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Crack the egg in the bowl, toss in the flour and mix well.

Coat your palms with dry vegetables and form 11-12 cakes. You will need to coat your palms with dry veggies every time you use your palms to shape the cakes (even more times per cake). Make sure all cakes are well coated.

Transfer them onto the microwave safe parchment-lined crisp plate. I’ve baked the cakes in batches of six by microwaving them for 2 ½ minutes at 750 W, then flipped them over and microwaved them for another 2 ½ minutes at 750 W.

Cool for about 1-2 minutes on a cooling rack.

You can serve along with a dipping sauce made of equal proportions of low fat sour cream and tartar sauce. Mix them well and add a few sprigs of fresh dill.

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55 Comments

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  1. How do you take such gorgeous pictures? They’re stunning! I feel like I could steal breadcrumbs from the screen!

    August 11th, 2008 at 04:39
  2. Wow, those seriously look sooo good. I am huge fan of all of those ingredients. Thanks for sharing another great recipe!!

    August 11th, 2008 at 04:48
  3. I saw the title of the post, honest… but I kept thinking what the heck is a courgette? And then I turned to wiki… oh it’s ZUCCHINI! My bad. I’m surprised you didn’t like them growing up, I think their flavor is really neutral. But anyways, this dish is wonderful. I love the mix of veggies, and it’s low carb and fat. Nice and healthy for the round up.

    Thanks for the reminder for the roundup… Hmmm let’s see what this kid can do.

    August 11th, 2008 at 05:27
  4. Gorgeous use of veggies Lore!

    August 11th, 2008 at 05:44
  5. Oh, these must be amazingly yammy!! Have to try and feed these for my boyfriend, he doesn’t like zucchini at all. Weirdo :D

    August 11th, 2008 at 06:01
  6. They’re little courgette hamburguers! I also love courgette, but I only found that out a couple of years ago. Since then I’ve been using them in every possible way, so must give this a try!

    August 11th, 2008 at 06:05
  7. Lore, these look fantastic, your photos are awesome! I will definitely give this recipe a try as I have a surfeit of zucchinis from our garden on hand. :) Not sure if you noticed but I too recently posted a zucchini recipe that you may consider trying out, see: http://twurl.nl/q88tk1

    Keep up the great work!

    August 11th, 2008 at 06:08
  8. Your mom is lucky that you liked zucchini as a child. Not on my favorite list, but these look mighty tempting.

    August 11th, 2008 at 06:08
  9. My mom usually needed to make cutlets inorder to finish off all the veggies which remained..She used Rice Flour to bind/coat them…
    The pic is so fab and I am new to your site !!
    Im going to keep visitin’
    Rgds
    Sam (www.foodiiee.blogspot.com)

    August 11th, 2008 at 07:10
  10. Wow… what a click!!!! Really amazing & fantastic….

    Gorgeous use of veggies Lore!

    August 11th, 2008 at 07:30
  11. lookin so cute,..nd green,..healthy too,..;-)

    August 11th, 2008 at 08:13
  12. Ben

    OMG, Lore, those cakes are amazing :D How do you make them so perfectly round. Every time I make any kind of cake (except the ones where I use pans) they are always shapeless. Hehe. I’ve got a question about the event. I made a gazpacho, but the recipe is not original. It was only adapted from another one. Can I still send it?

    August 11th, 2008 at 10:31
  13. Lo

    These look phenomenal, Lore!
    Between all the vegetables and the herbs, I’ll bet they’re delicious. Thanks for yet another idea to use up all of my summer bounty!

    August 11th, 2008 at 11:07
  14. Lore this looks very colorful and delicious,loved the unique combination of vegetables you have used :)

    August 11th, 2008 at 11:52
  15. Those cakes look so good…we adore courgettes…lovely pictures :-)

    August 12th, 2008 at 12:31
  16. That is such a cool photo! It’s beautiful…so appetizing and very original!

    August 12th, 2008 at 01:07
  17. Wow, these look gorgeous, beautifully made and photographed. Mmmmmmm :P

    August 12th, 2008 at 01:11
  18. hi Lore, those veggie crumbs look soooooo…….good. Even I am the happiest mom on the planet coz my son eats all vegetables with no fuss… You have an award on my blog :)

    August 12th, 2008 at 04:48
  19. Fantastic picture and since Iam a vegetarian Iam definitely going to try this recipe. There are awards for you waiting in my blog!!! Enjoy …Youe deserve them

    August 12th, 2008 at 10:13
  20. your patties are practically perfect! :)
    i’m loving the specks of color the various veggies provide and the fact that the cakes actually stick together, which is a problem i often have with such things. nicely done! :)

    August 12th, 2008 at 11:07
  21. Lore,

    Wow! what a fantastic shot! The recipe is new to me, will surely try it.

    I’ve tagged you, scroll to

    http://thefootloosechef.blogspot.com/2008/08/tricolour-raita.html

    August 12th, 2008 at 02:55
  22. I was your opposite as a kid. I didn’t like most vegetables, but I loved my raw carrots.

    Zucchini were something it took me a long time to acquire a taste for. I’m still not hugely fond of them, but I find cooking them in certain ways they’re quite good. One way I like them is grilled. I also like zucchini cakes. I am always collecting zucchini cake recipes because they are great for the antipasto tray and they’re a great side dish. Since my husband won’t eat many vegetables, zucchini cakes work well for him.

    You bake yours too! Very health-conscious of you.

    August 12th, 2008 at 03:50
  23. Wow, Lore - these are just beautiful! What great pics :)

    August 12th, 2008 at 03:56
  24. Beautiful photo -they look delicious.

    August 12th, 2008 at 04:15
  25. So beautiful.. can’t think of eating them, recipe is awesome, must be so tasty too..I have something waiting for you at my blog.

    August 12th, 2008 at 06:02
  26. Which reminds me, we still have to send in our recipe for the event. Where did all that time go?

    Lovely zucchini cakes. I don’t recall having too much of a problem with vegetables growing up, but if somebody prepared me vegetables like these, I certainly wouldn’t have any problem.

    August 12th, 2008 at 06:57
  27. Mm, Lore, these look great… You’re right, forget those bread crumbs lol! I loved all veggies when i was little except for okra… :) Weird kids.

    August 12th, 2008 at 08:37
  28. come to think of it, im not sure if iv ever had zucchini but like u, i have always love vegetables of any kind incl the bitter ones where back home we normally eat them raw.

    and Lore, how come u always manage to take really gorgeous pictures? lol.

    August 12th, 2008 at 10:43
  29. Lore
    nice post,,made good reading and yes our food habits changee with time…dont we all agree !

    August 13th, 2008 at 12:31
  30. Pam

    They look really good Lore - great pictures too.

    August 13th, 2008 at 01:20
  31. Oh..why have I never heard of courgettes??? Am I missing something here???

    August 13th, 2008 at 04:47
  32. Nice! Never heard the word courgette before. Learn something new everyday!

    August 13th, 2008 at 06:35
  33. Lore, beautiful vegetable cakes! I’ve never eaten anything like it, it looks and sounds delicious!

    August 13th, 2008 at 09:13
  34. thatz such a lovely pic .. soo colorful.. very tempting

    August 13th, 2008 at 09:25
  35. Very Nice pictures. Yum Yum recipe.

    August 13th, 2008 at 01:08
  36. stunning photos as usual !! love love them!

    August 13th, 2008 at 02:40
  37. Excellent, Lore, looking very yummy!

    August 13th, 2008 at 03:13
  38. hi lore!! i can never see your images. it used to show up earlier but not anymore, I have a similar problem with a few other blogs, only possible explanation - maybe you’re using flickr?!? Flickr along with orkut and a few others are banned in UAE.

    August 13th, 2008 at 06:43
  39. like i told nags of edible garden how about using picasa? or can’t you just upload images directly?? some of us in the middle east would love to see pictures you take!

    August 13th, 2008 at 06:45
  40. delicious recipe and beautiful website

    August 13th, 2008 at 11:10
  41. Hi Lore there is a surprise waiting for you at my blog,please check it out :)

    August 14th, 2008 at 01:40
  42. Absolutely nice pictures and look yummy!!!! xxGloria

    August 14th, 2008 at 05:06
  43. Lore, they look lovely! I can’t imagine anyone saying “no” to these perfect little patties!

    August 15th, 2008 at 02:04
  44. So healthy and delicious sounding. Who wouldn’t love these?

    August 15th, 2008 at 04:56
  45. What a perfect way to use up the courgettes I have in my fridge. Those look so plump and yummy. I love vegetable patties and so do my kids.
    By the way, Lore is my cousin’s name as well– it always makes me smile when I see your name on your blog.:-)

    August 15th, 2008 at 05:04
  46. Looks great! Zucchini has always been one of my favorites… as soon as I get settled in my new apartment, I going to rack my brain for something for your event! :)

    August 15th, 2008 at 06:43
  47. Me too Lore…. I loved my veggies as a child so I must be in the weird kids camp too *giggle* Lovely delicious courgettes cakes :D

    Rosie x

    August 15th, 2008 at 05:03
  48. I love how colorful they look - gorgeous photo!

    August 15th, 2008 at 09:29
  49. Oh my god they look so neat and beautiful.I love the picture and of course the wonderful recipe.

    August 16th, 2008 at 05:24
  50. I’ve never bought Zucchini. I must try this one.

    August 16th, 2008 at 05:35
  51. Thank you for your lovely comments! I do appreciate every single one of them, they are the fuel that keep me running :)

    August 18th, 2008 at 08:33
  52. jd

    These look sooooo pretty!

    And by the way, I was a weird kid who loved veggies, too! In fact, I still am :)

    Lovely blog!

    August 19th, 2008 at 12:10
  53. the first photo makes me speechless - so beautiful!
    2 thumbs up!

    August 19th, 2008 at 02:20
  54. Thank you guys!

    August 21st, 2008 at 12:33
  55. Whats zucchini weight?

    September 30th, 2008 at 05:44

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