Zucchini Pancakes

I first made this recipe in the States last fall, loved it, forgot about it, and rediscovered it a few weeks ago. The recipe comes from here originally, and I made it almost exactly as recommended (making substitutions where exotic ingredients such as store-bought breadcrumbs were unavailable) and it was delicious up until the moment where it made me sick to my stomach due to the massive amounts of olive oil required for frying. Also, it was kind of a pain to make -- literally -- as pan-fried foods often are. So, I changed it! Here is my new recipe for oven-baked zucchini pancakes, which absolutely everyone seems to love. Try it!

Ingredients:

2 medium-largish zucchinis
1 large or 2 small onions (or just one small onion - it doesn't make that much difference)
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 eggs
1 cup bread crumbs, plain or seasoned
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp oregano
other Italian-ish seasonings, especially if using plain breadcrumbs
salt and pepper to taste

Grate the zucchini and onion in the easiest and least tearful way possible, by hand or with a food processor or whatever. Dump them into a colander (make sure the holes aren't so big that you lose significant bits of grated veggie) and let them drain. Encourage them to drain, actually; get your hands in there and squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. You'll be amazed at how much liquid is contained in a few zukes and onions. Don't hope to get them entirely wrung out. Just do the best you can.

Now preheat your oven to 425ish.

When the veggies are reasonably drained, throw 'em in a mixing bowl and combine with the rest of the ingredients. I'm not entirely sure what I mean by "salt and pepper to taste," because you won't actually be tasting the uncooked mixture and by the time it's cooked, it's pretty much too late to adjust the seasoning. So just do your best guessing and call it good. You can cover up any flavor deficiencies later with great big spoonfuls of sour cream. You can. Because you live in America where sour cream exists. (Did she just complain about the food in France? Yes. She did.) Mix everything up and make sure it's not too dry or too runny. It should be damp and gloppy but spoonable. Pretend that makes sense, okay?

Line a baking sheet or two with parchment paper and pour some olive oil on the paper. Spread it around to coat. Then drop your pancake mixture onto it in spoonfuls and flatten them down into pancakes. With the back of the spoon or with your hand or with a pancake-flattening tool. Which probably really exists somewhere. Then I like to brush the tops with more olive oil, but that's probably superfluous since we're going to flip them anyway. Your call.

Now stick them in the oven for 20 minutes, take them out, flip them over, and stick them back in for another 15 or so.

Serve with sour cream (*sniff*) or applesauce or samurai sauce (ha! so there! I'm getting my revenge for the sour cream).

That's all there is to it. I have nothing else to say about this recipe, but it felt wrong to end it with a spiteful parenthetical, so...well....enjoy!