Courgette and Mint Fritters with Poached Eggs

I LOVE courgettes so much that I could eat them all the time – they are so incredibly flexible with what you can do with them and when you get a great crop in the garden you’re on for a winner!  But these courgette and mint fritters with poached eggs is just one of the amazing ways to enjoy them. Jit shared with me that this is one of his all time favourite breakfast/brunche that I make for us.

If you order your shopping online, you’ll also find that courgettes tend to come in threes so there is often a lonely one left after the weekly meals so it is the perfect excuse opportunity to get more courgette into your belly!

I usually make these with a hard goat’s cheese, but have been known to use whichever cheese is needing to be used in the fridge.  This time, rather than opening a new cheese, I grabbed the left over cheddar and popped that it.  It was equally delicious and really did go with the mint – surprisingly!

So grab those left over courgettes, your store cupboard classics and treat yourself to some delicious fritters!

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 large courgette

1 free range egg

2/3 cup of plain flour

2 tbsp chopped fresh mint or 1 tbsp dried

50 g grated or crumbled cheese e.g. goat’s cheese, cheddar or feta

(4 free range eggs for poaching)

Method:

Pop the oven onto warm (you’ll be popping the fritters in while you do the rest!)

Grate the courgette into a bowl

Add the egg and mix thoroughly to scramble and combine with the courgette

Chop the mint and add to the bowl along with the grated cheese

Gradually add the flour to the mixture, stirring through thoroughly adding more until it becomes the consistency of thick pancake batter and holds in a ball shape on the spoon

Heat the oil in a frying pan and drop a desert spoon of mixture into the pan, repeat with another spoon full

squash the mixture sown slightly to create a circular fritter shape and fry for about a minute and a half, turn over with a spatula and cook for another minute and a half on the other side until the fritter is nicely browned

Place on a kitchen roll lined plate and continue until all of the batter has been used

Place in a warmed oven while you prepare and cook the poached eggs

Serve onto a plate, top with the poached eggs and season with salt and pepper

Seriously delicious and perfect for using up left over courgette and mint that would otherwise be sitting around in the cupboard.

These are perfect for breakfast, brunch, lunch or even a light dinner and are as easy as anything to make.  If you’re finding that the batter is too loose, add a little bit more flour and if it’s too solid, pop a little dash of soya milk to the batter.  There is no real science to this and courgettes can be a little variable with their water count so play it by ear, keep practicing and you’ll soon have the perfect go to recipe for all occasions.

I’m definitely going to be planting a whole load of courgettes again this year because they become our staple diet around late summer and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  That’s something to add to my to-do list, along with buying an irrigation system and gravel!

Have a great day and enjoy your cooking, gardening, sunbathing or whatever you’re up to!

PS: I have made these on camp too as they can easily be made using one stove and kept warm in a foil wrapped plate.  Camping food needn’t be boring!!