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Squash and carrots team in flavorful fritters

Recipe: End-of-summer squash in a side dish or appetizer

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED SEP 22, 2024

These squash and carrot fritters make a great side dish, but also can be cooked mini-size for appetizers. Debbie Arrington

What can you do with the last squash of summer? So often, these latecomers are over-sized or thick-skinned. (And you’ve exhausted your squash recipes and your family’s appetite.)

This adaptable recipe can use any kind of summer squash – yellow crookneck, patty pan, zucchini or hybrids. Grated carrot adds color and crunch.

Crookneck squash — The last squash is not usually the best squash,
but it's perfect for fritters.

Full size, these fritters make a tasty side dish to salmon, chicken or pork. Or make them a vegetarian entree.

Top with a little sour cream or plain yogurt, if desired, along with more chopped chives.

Perfect for dipping, mini-fritters are kid-sized – sort of like little veggie nuggets. They also make good appetizers. Serve with ranch dressing or plain yogurt.

End-of-summer squash fritters

Makes 4 fritters or 12 mini-fritters

Ingredients:

1 pound summer squash

Salt

½ cup grated carrot

2 tablespoons grated onion

1 egg, beaten

¼ cup Parmesan cheese, shredded

1 tablespoon chopped chives, plus more for garnish

½ teaspoon garlic salt

¼ cup flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

Vegetable oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Plain yogurt or sour cream, optional

Instructions:

Fritters cooking in pan — Cook the fritters about 3 minutes per side.

De-stem squash. Remove any large or hard seeds. Grate with a large-hole grater.

Put squash in a colander and sprinkle with salt; gently stir. Let drain for 10 minutes.

Transfer grated squash to a clean dishcloth. Wrap the squash in the dishcloth and gently squeeze out the water.

While the squash is draining, combine the grated carrot and onion in a medium bowl. With a wooden spoon, stir in beaten egg, Parmesan cheese, 1 tablespoon chives and garlic salt.

Fold in the drained and squeezed squash. Sprinkle the flour and baking powder over the mixture; stir to combine.

Line a baking sheet with paper towels. Set aside.

Cover the bottom of a heavy skillet with about 1/8 inch of oil, about ¼ cup. Heat the oil over medium high heat. Drop 1/4-cup scoops of the squash mixture into the hot oil and gently press down with the back of a spoon.

Note: For mini-fritters, use 1 large tablespoon per fritter.

Cook the squash patties until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side. Adjust heat as needed so patties don’t cook too fast. Remove to paper towel-lined baking sheet to drain. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Serve warm with plain yogurt or sour cream and chopped chives.

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RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

Keywords:

recipe recipes squash carrots cooking appetizer side dish Sacramento gardening farmers markets produce management backyard produce fall September

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Garden checklist for week of May 17

With an eye on warmer weather to come, continue to work on the summer vegetable garden:

* Remember to irrigate your tender transplants. The wind can quickly dry out young plants. Seedlings need consistent moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants. Water early in the morning for best results.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)

* Plant dahlia tubers.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, calibrachoa, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Put your veggie garden on a regular diet. Set up a monthly feeding program, and keep track on your calendar. Make sure to water your garden before applying any fertilizer to prevent “burning” your plants.

* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.

* Don’t forget to weed! Those invaders are growing fast.

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