For the cooks: Willow & Spoon’s zucchini fritters

There’s no denying it – we all love a good stack of crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside fritters for breakfast (with a side of bacon of course). But while heading out to one of Brisbane’s tastiest cafes is the usual strategy for getting our hands on a pile of them, sometimes, you just want to stay at home and eat fritters in your pjs (still with a side of bacon). So we asked one of our favourite cafes, Willow & Spoon, to help us out with a recipe for their infamous zucchini fritters – a dish you’ll find on at least every second table if you stopped in to their newly renovated Wilston home on a Sunday morning! Did we mention they’re gluten free?

Zucchini fritters with pea puree, onion marmalade and poached eggs

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 kg zucchini
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup rice flour
• 4 red onions
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
• 1 cup castor sugar
• 2 brown onions
• 2 tbsp minced ginger
• 5 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
• 4 cups frozen peas
• 2 cups water
• Salt & pepper
• Olive oil (for frying)
• Watercress to garnish

Method:

Fritters:

1. Grate zucchini into a bowl, sprinkle with sea salt and leave for 10 minutes, then squeeze out excess liquid.
2. Add rice flour, 2 eggs, and salt and pepper to taste, and mix thoroughly until all ingredients are combined.
3. Spoon out the mixture (like making pikelets – about 2-3 tbsp of batter per fritter) into a non-stick fry pan and cook for 3 minutes (turning as they brown on each side).

Onion Marmalade (can be made the day before):

1. Slice 4 red onions and fry in small amount of olive oil until soft.
2. Add red wine vinegar, white vinegar and sugar, and salt and pepper to taste.
3. Stir regularly while simmering on low heat for 1 hour.
4. Remove from heat and cool.

Pea puree:

1. Dice brown onions and fry in oil until soft.
2. Add minced ginger and garlic, stir until combined then add peas and 2 cups water.
3. Cook until peas are soft.
4. Remove from heat and combine in a blender until smooth.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste

Just before serving:

Poach 4 eggs in simmering water and fry up bacon if adding (of course you are).

To plate:

1. Spoon a generous amount of pea puree on the middle of plate and place 1 fritter on the puree.
2. Repeat with another spoonful of pea puree and a spoonful of marmalade onto the fritter, and then place another fritter on top.
3. Top with a poached egg and garnish with watercress.

Of course, if you’d rather let someone else do the cooking, you can always just drop into Willow & Spoon!