Fun Food. Fun.

The thing that I hate the most about this 90% humidity, 100% heat weather is the sudden lack of vision everytime I get into and out of a temperature controlled environment.

Just sayin'.

Fortunately, for me (and you, by extension), is the wondabulousness (okay, that puktastic portmanteau, is never going to make the cool circles) of summer food.

Over the last couple of weeks of this glorious summer, I've visited the Bentonville Farmer's Market. On Saturday morning, no less. None of the wimpy mid-week market for me, no siree! I wake up early to go to the Saturday market.

(Fine, fine. You got me. I went because a dear friend had dropped in and our other plans for the morning were shot to high hell. )

The market itself is pure delight. I've fallen in love all over again with the historic town square.

Fresh produce, colourful scarves, art, Live Music (sometimes), fresh baked goods, fresh meat, delicate jewelery, belts - yup, we've got a diverse market. There was even a breakfast cart serving crêpes. (Umhmm!)

Anyway, thus it was, that I discovered Zucchini. R and I had found our lunch.

We got home and had to dig around a bit for a non-kofta recipe.

We found this recipe for Zucchini Pancakes and since I rarely ever have everything a recipe calls for, here's our variation.

Before you start cooking, brew a pot of Coffee.

Then, gather:

2 Zucchini

2 eggs (*Don't eat eggs? See notes.)

1/2 cup of wheat flour

1/4 cup of onions

1 and 1/2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 and 1/2 tbsp Parmesan Cheese (again, see notes)

2 tsp baking powder

(Indian) Red Chilli Powder

Salt (to taste)

Oregano (to taste)

Preheat your oven to 350 F.

Grate the Zucchini into a bowl.

Add the onion.

Add a fourth of the cheese and a little salt. Add the Red Chilli Powder.

Add the eggs, flour and oil, mixing (or lightly beating) the ingredients together.

As you mix, blend in the rest of the cheese.

Grease a baking tray and spoon the batter onto it.

Sprinkle Oregano onto the spooned pancakes.

Bake for about 10-12 minutes.

And while you wait for the Tada! moment, sip the coffee and read these notes on the recipe:

* If you're not going to add the egg, you might choose to add in a fourth of a boiled and mashed-up raw banana. If you don't have that at hand, try a small boiled and mashed potato. And if that's not possible, don't fret. Use a little water and proportion the flour to give it the consistency that you'd like. The recipe works fine without egg.

* Speaking of consistency, you might choose to thicken the batter (cut down or omit the egg, for instance) into little cutlets instead of pancakes. If you do, you may need to bake them longer.

Don't forget to check at the 10 minute mark, anyway.

* For variations on a theme, use spring onions instead of yellow or white onions. Use shallots. Change the cheese and use mozzarella instead of Parmesan, or if the fancy so strikes you, use both. Throw in grated carrots. Add some peas to the mix, while you're at it.

Phew! Finally I assure you that writing this post takes much longer than just making the yummies.

P.S. Just before posting, I found this link that looks awesomely similar to our variation.

Go on, take a look then.

And until the next post, take care.