Veggies are your friend!!

A delicious first attempt... (recipe below)

I was supposed to be attending a birthday party tonight, but Old Man Winter finally decided to show up and put the kibosh on that.

Since Danny and I are the "special diet" couple, I'll often make something to bring along to parties. Our friends do a wonderful job of asking and buying things that are safe for us, they even made a gluten free German Chocolate cake for my birthday... FROM SCRATCH! It was the best cake I've eaten in a very long time!

Another friend of ours has recently discovered that he experiences an adverse reaction to wheat. His troubles aren't digestive though... he breaks out in itchy hives! Poor guy! That being said, I decided to bring a bit more food than I normally would. I was gonna make a chocolate caramel cake recipe I found on Betty Crocker's site, these sweet & sour turkey meatballs I had been imagining in my head, and some carrot zucchini fritters & corn fritters I found on Taste of Home... all with the obvious gluten free modifications.

Unfortunately, I did all of my shopping before getting word of the impending storm. We also weren't sure exactly how the storm was gonna play out. Was it gonna be bad enough to cancel or was it gonna be like the "snow" we got on Halloween that melted before the afternoon was out? After a phone conversation, we all agreed it would be best to decide in the morning once we've had a chance to see what the weather was actually doing.

I peeked out the bathroom window this morning and saw snow covering the ground below. As Danny and I took Cinder out for her morning pee, we realized it was actually doing some pretty heavy sleeting. Not a good sign. A few hours later the phone rang. No joy. They were concerned for everyone's ability to get home safely afterwards. The roads might be fine to travel in early evening, but once night falls, so too do the temps. Any semi-melted slush on the roads can quickly turn to ice and make for treacherous travel.

Figuring the cancelled party was no reason to let my newly purchased zucchini go to waste, I pulled out my food processor while Danny called an old friend overseas. The whole recipe came together really quickly. I, obviously, substituted my g-free flour blend for the AP flour and was a bit more generous with the salt and pepper. I added freshly chopped flat leaf parsley and scallions to the sauce itself and topped it with coarse ground black pepper and the last bits of parsley left on my board.

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Carrot Zucchini Fritters w/ Horseradish Sauce
FRITTERS:

• 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 medium zucchini, shredded and squeezed dry (about 1-1/2 cups)
• 1 large carrot, shredded
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon cornmeal
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• Oil for frying

HORSERADISH SAUCE:

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup horseradish sauce

• 
  
• INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, horseradish sauce and sour cream. Cover and refrigerate.
2. Melt butter in a small pan over low heat. Add chopped onion and cook until tender. Combine the egg, zucchini, carrot and onion in a larger bowl. In a small bowl, combine the flour, cheese, cornmeal, salt and pepper; stir into vegetable mixture just until combined.
3. In an electric skillet, heat 2 in. of oil to 375°. Drop batter by rounded tablespoonfuls, a few at a time, into hot oil. Fry until golden brown, about 1-1/2 minutes on each side. Drain on cooling rack or paper towels if you absolutely must.  - Yield: 1-1/2 dozen fritters and 1-1/2 cups horseradish sauce

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I don't actually have an electric skillet anymore, so I wound up frying mine in my favorite cast iron skillet on the stove. I checked my oil temp with my candy thermometer to make sure I was in the right area, and since the fritters are so small, there's not much in the way of temperature drop off so I didn't have to monkey with the dial at all.

Now that I've made them, a few notes... Keep the fritters small. The flour and egg will make them wanna puff a bit, so if you make them too big you run the risk of the outside cooking faster than the inside. Gooey fritters are NOT good eats. I discovered this 2 fritters in.

I also think giving each fritter a firm press with the back of a spoon about 30-45 seconds into cooking is a good idea. The 30 seconds or so will give the bottom a chance to form a crust so that when you press with the spoon, the fritter won't stick to the bottom of the pan. A thinner fritter also means a shorter fry time. Less time in the pan means less time to absorb excess oil, less excess oil means a crisp NON GREASY fritter.

Danny has already asked that I make these at least once a week! He's normally full of suggestions when I've tried a new recipe, saying things like "Next time you should try..." or "they'd be really good if you..." This time he actually said "You know how I usually have ideas on how to make stuff better? Yeah, I've got nothin' on these. These are great just the way they are!" Now that's a compliment in this house!!

I'm already thinking of the other types of vegetables I can use... sweet potatoes, parsnips, yellow squash. We're definitely moving toward a more plant based diet and I can see recipes like this making that transition much easier!