cook: zucchini and yellow squash fritters

I had outrigger canoe races on Saturday, where I had to be at Fort Baker at 6 in the a.m., but managed to cook squash fritters for a potluck at the community gardens as requested by Patrick the night before. It's a super easy recipe, where I grated the zucchini and yellow squash (from which I also removed its big seeds) into a mesh colander, salted the squash and let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes before squeezing all the water from it with my hands. It's messy, but I like clean, bare hands better than using a kitchen towel or dish cloth to squeeze. And then I mixed into the squash without measuring: beaten eggs, panko, garlic powder, onion powder, (no time to mince fresh alliums), hot smoked paprika, and chopped mint and thyme as well as salt and pepper. I then used a mini ice cream scoop to lay the balls into my cast iron of hot canola oil until they were golden brown on both sides--oh yeah I might have used a spoon to flatten the balls a bit. I then placed the fritters onto parchment paper into a baking sheet, where they went into refrigerator overnight.

 

I told my husband that he could pop the fritters before leaving for the potluck in a 400 degree oven to reheat, but to watch them so as not to burn. I didn't know if it would take 15 or 30 minutes to heat through, but also knew a very hot oven would get them crispy again. I also had whirred in the Vitamix, Greek yogurt with salt, lemon juice, fresh chopped mint, and feta cheese for a dipping sauce.

Patrick came back with just about all the dipping sauce as the fritters were tasty enough I guess without the yogurt. He said that people dug in right away as no fork or knives were needed for these finger foods, and so they were first to disappear. And there ya have it, the perfect crowd-pleasing appetizer for a potluck dish that's easy to re-heat.