🍽️Zucchini Fritters with Cucumber Tomato Salad (Serves 3)

Garden zucchini shredded into crispy, herby fritters, with a cold, sharp cucumber-tomato salad cutting through the richness. Lemony garlic yogurt sauce ties them together and a jammy fried egg turns it into dinner. Naturally vegetarian — crispy bacon goes alongside on the meat plates.

Ingredients

Zucchini Fritters

• 2 medium zucchini (about 1½ lbs), coarsely grated
• 1 tsp salt (for drawing out water)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup Parmesan, finely grated
• ¼ cup fresh basil, chopped
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced (or 2 tbsp minced onion)
• 1 garlic clove, grated
• ½ tsp baking powder
• Black pepper
• Neutral oil for frying

Cucumber Tomato Salad

• 2 cucumbers, halved lengthwise and sliced into thick half-moons
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
• ¼ red onion, sliced paper-thin
• 3 oz feta or goat cheese, crumbled
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar (or lemon juice)
• 1 tsp fresh oregano, chopped
• Salt and black pepper
• Optional: a handful of Kalamata olives

Lemony Garlic Yogurt Sauce

• ¾ cup Greek yogurt (or sour cream)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 small garlic clove, grated
• 1 tbsp fresh basil or dill, chopped
• Salt to taste

Protein Options

• Vegetarian: a soft fried egg on top of the fritters
• Meat: 4–6 slices thick-cut bacon, crisped and served alongside

Instructions

1. Sweat the zucchini (start here — it takes 15 minutes and decides everything): Toss the grated zucchini with 1 tsp salt in a colander and let it sit 15 minutes. Then wrap it in a clean kitchen towel and wring it out hard over the sink. You want it genuinely dry — expect to squeeze out a surprising amount of water. Wet zucchini makes steamed, floppy fritters.
2. Build the salad: While the zucchini sweats, toss the cucumber half-moons with a pinch of salt and let them drain in a second colander for 10 minutes, then pat dry. Whisk the olive oil, vinegar, oregano, salt, and pepper in a bowl, add the cucumbers, tomatoes, and red onion, and toss. Scatter the cheese and olives over the top. Refrigerate until serving — it gets better sitting for 20 minutes.
3. Bacon (meat side): Crisp the bacon in a skillet, then drain on paper towels. Leave a little fat in the pan if you want the fritters to pick up some of it.
4. Make the sauce: Stir together the yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, herbs, and salt. Refrigerate until serving.
5. Mix the batter: In a large bowl, combine the wrung-out zucchini, eggs, flour, Parmesan, basil, scallions, garlic, baking powder, and plenty of black pepper. Mix just until it comes together — it should hold a loose scoopable shape, not pour. Add a spoonful more flour if it's slack.
6. Fry: Heat a thin layer of neutral oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Drop ¼-cup mounds into the pan and flatten gently to about ½" thick. Fry 3–4 minutes per side until deeply golden and crisp at the edges. Don't crowd the pan, and don't press them flat after the first flatten. Drain on a rack (not paper towels — they'll steam and go soft).
7. Eggs: Fry the eggs in the same skillet in the leftover oil, sunny-side up with a jammy yolk.
8. Serve: Fritters with an egg on top, salad alongside, yogurt sauce spooned over or on the side. Bacon on the meat plates.

Tips

• Toddler version: fritters cut into strips are basically dippable zucchini pancakes — serve with a little plain yogurt or ketchup. Give her the cucumbers and tomatoes plain and undressed on the side.
• Using a pre-measured kit: if the dry mix, cheese, and herbs are already portioned, skip straight to step 1 (the zucchini still needs wringing out regardless) and add the eggs to whatever's measured.
• Salting and draining the cucumbers keeps the salad crisp instead of watery in the bowl — same trick as the cucumber sandwiches.
• A rack over a sheet pan in a 200°F oven holds finished fritters crisp while you work through the batches.
• Leftover fritters reheat well in the air fryer at 375°F for 4–5 minutes — never the microwave.