Baked Carrot & Courgette Fritters

There is a running joke between Mike and I that I don't actually speak English, I speak American. I say joke, but I'm pretty sure he is about 98% serious when he says that.

Usually this debate pops up whenever I say basil pronounced with a "bay" sound and not a "baz" sound. See also herb and "erb". Though I will give it to him that if we are looking at root words and origins, the English pronunciation is right in those scenarios, he is by no means faultless in the correct pronunciation of words - especially when they are of Spanish origin. I still laugh every time he says taco because it just sounds so wrong.

We also run into this debate whenever I ask zucchinis and not courgettes. Us Americans take after the Italian etymology 'zucchio' rather than the French 'courgette'. Though they are both right, if I ask for a zucchini from Bruce, our fruit and veg man, I'm sure to get a blank stare - not that I'm used to those anyways.

Long story short: to all of my American friends, courgette = zucchini.

In my eternal quest to pack vegetables into our diet, I decided to make some veggie fritters that can be enjoyed on their own as a snack, or with a main meal. I also have a load a fresh, organic herbs in the fridge that I bought at the farmers market last weekend that were calling to be used. Personally, I'm all about my fresh herbs and seasonings, but if you don't have on hand, feel free to use the dried spices.


Great thing about this recipe in addition to being Low Fodmap is that it can also be made vegan or Autoimmune Paleo friendly.

I think this recipe also lends well to playing around a bit depending on what you like or what you need using up in your fridge. Spare broccoli florets? Chop it up and toss it in. Don't have green onions? Oh well. Throw in your favorite spices and you can't go wrong.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter (55 grams) or coconut oil, plus extra for drizzling
• 2 eggs (to make AIP use gelatin eggs and to make vegan use flax eggs or egg replacers)
• 3 cups shredded courgette (about 2 small courgettes)
• 2 cups shredded carrots (about 2 small carrots)
• 4 spring/green onions chopped using only the green parts for Low Fodmap
• 2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley (or dried)
• 2 tablespoons freshly chopped oregano (or dried)
• 3 tablespoons coconut flour
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 400F/205C
2. Melt your butter/oil then mix with your egg (substitutes).
3. Shred your carrots and courgette. You can do this in a high powered blender or food processor or grater
4. In a large bowl, add your vegetables and spices and then mix it all together.

    4.  In a large bowl, add your vegetables and spices and then mix it all together.

    5.  Stir in your melted butter and eggs into your veggie mixture and combine. 

    6.  In a small bowl, mix together your salt, pepper, and coconut flour. Once your dry ingredients              are mixed thoroughly, add them into your veggie mixture and combine.

    7. With a large spoon or ice cream scoop, scoop the batter onto a baking tray lined with parchment

        paper. Flatten with the back of the spoon to form the fritters. In my picture it's not lined, but then         I realized they would probably stick to the tray and lined the tray, but didn't get a picture.

    8. Once your tray is full, drizzle a small amount of oil over the top of each fritter and use the back          of a spoon to spread the oil over the top.

    9. Bake for about 13-15 minutes, or until the tops are golden.

    10. Flip each fritter over, drizzle the tops with a tiny bit oil like you did with the other side, and                bake for another 13-15 minutes. 

    11. Allow the fritters to cool on the tray for about 10 minutes, and then enjoy.

*Makes about 7 larger fritters or 14 small ones.

I ate like half of these before I was able to photograph them, whoops.

Let me know what variations you tried out in the comments below!