Savory Zucchini Corn Pancakes

It's zucchini season!  The time of year where zucchini plants have grown into large, bushy monsters overflowing with zukes that go from 2 inches to 2 feet over night.  Where our farmers' market practically gives them away at $1 for a bag of 4.  This has resulted in zucchini-filled everything around my house: twists on the classic zucchini bread, zucchini scrambled eggs, grilled zucchini... and these (my favorite) -- savory zucchini corn pancakes. They are packed with veggies, held together by eggs and a little flour, and boosted by some toasted walnuts and tangy feta cheese.  We've been eating them for dinner as an entree, but they could be appetizers or even breakfast.

I like to take a massive zucchini (see photo), cut it up, remove the seeds, and grate it using the food processor.  One of these zucchinis resulted in about 7 cups of grated zucchini.  I put the grated portion that I plan to use in the next week in a sealed container in the fridge and freeze the rest in cup or 2 1/2 cup portions (this recipe and my zucchini bread recipe call for 2 1/2 cups, so it's nice to have that amount ready in the freezer). You can use one of these big boys, or use the small ones -- you can grate the entire small zucchini without removing the seeds.

Savory Zucchini Corn Pancakes
serves 2 as an entree, 4 as an appetizer
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups grated zucchini
1 ear corn, kernels cut off
1/4 cup red onion, diced finely
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped and toasted
1/4 cup plus 1 Tablespoon feta, crumbled
3 Tablespoons dill, chopped small (or cut with kitchen scissors), plus a bit more for garnish
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup flour
a large pinch salt
freshly ground pepper, as desired
3 Tablespoons (plus more if needed) Sunflower or canola oil for cooking

Garlic Yogurt 
4 Tablespoons Greek yogurt
1/2 teaspoon diced garlic
splash of milk
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. Mix zucchini, corn, onion and walnuts together in a large bowl.

zucchini, onion, corn and walnuts ready to be mixed together

2. Add dill and salt and mix again.
3. Add egg and mix with a spoon to coat all the ingredients.
4. Take a break from batter preparation to prepare your skillet for cooking the pancakes. Using a heavy skillet or fry pan, heat the 3 Tablespoon oil over medium-high heat while you finish the last steps of preparing the batter.  (This amount of oil was enough for me to cook all the pancakes, but you may want to add a bit between batches)
4. Add the flour to the zucchini batter, a couple tablespoons at a time, stirring to evenly combine.
5. When all flour is mixed in, add the feta.  Stir to distribute.
6. When oil is hot, drop the batter in, creating 2- to 3-inch diameter pancakes.  Flatten a bit to ensure they get cooked evenly through.

7. Cook each side for about 4 minutes, checking occasionally for browning and pressing slightly with the flat side of a spatula.
8.  Place the pancakes on a brown paper bag or paper towels to absorb extra oil.
9. While the last batch is cooking, prepare the garlic yogurt: in a small bowl mix together all the ingredients.  The milk helps make the thick Greek yogurt creamier. 
9. Serve the zucchini-corn pancakes hot with a dollop of garlic yogurt and a garnish of extra dill.

Enjoy!