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30
Mar
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My Man Loves his Veggies! |
I feel so lucky to have such an open-minded fiance, seriously! I know many men (who are not vegetarians by choice) do not jump at the thought of a meatless dinner. In fact, it’s pretty hard to get them excited about it. The first time I made my Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos (which I am sure will make their way here at some point), I told my fiance we were having burritoes for dinner. He wanted to know, “What kind of meat?” None. “What kind of cheese?” None. “Well how are they are burritos?” Just eat them! Well he did, and guess what? Now they are one of his favorite meals, and he knows that if I am going to make a vegetarian dinner, it’s going to be good.
Tonight I made Goat Cheese Stuffed Zucchini Pancakes, courtesy of Emeril and my pal MWC. I’ll pretty much make anything involving goat cheese, especially now that I have discovered TJ’s LIGHT chevre – with 65% less fat and 50% fewer calories than regular goat cheese. And it seriously tastes amazing, I kid you not. So anyway, this pancake recipe said to drop the batter by tbsp’s, then put a slice of goat cheese, then another tbsp of batter. Apparantly one should get 24 pancakes this way. I cut the recipe in half, and honestly it did not look like much. I managed to squeeze out 8 pancakes. Which was ok for the two of us. The recipe also called for frying these in evoo, and I just pan-fried in spray over pretty low heat, which worked perfectly fine. While I finished up the ragout, I stuck the pan of finished pancakes in the oven to keep warm. Very good and I would definitely make these again!
I served this with an eggplant, mushroom and white bean ragout. I chopped up a 1-lb eggplant and a package of mushrooms. And a couple cloves of garlic. I let the eggplant sit for a bit on a paper towel while I added the mushrooms and garlic to a pan sprayed with evoo. I let those cook for a bit and then added the eggplant. A little bit later, I added crushed red pepper, a can of diced tomatoes, fresh basil (ok, not really fresh, I used the stuff from a tube and it actually worked well for this dish), 1 cup of cannelini beans, some italian seasoning, and fresh ground pepper. I let it simmer, uncovered, for about 15 minutes. Another winning veggie dinner!
Here is the original recipe for the pancakes. Again, I cut it in half for just the two of us. I also prepped the batter the night before and kept it in a tupperware, and that worked just fine.
1 pound small zucchini, grated and squeezed dry in a towel
1/4 cup grated yellow onions
1/4 cup grated yellow onions
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
2 teaspoons chopped lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup olive oil (I totally skipped this and just used pan spray)
1 (5-ounce) log goat cheese, very thinly sliced
Tomato Sauce, recipe follows
1/4 cup grated Parmesan (I used pecorino romano)
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.
In a large bowl, combine the zucchini, onions, basil, zest, garlic, salt, and pepper. In a small bowl, combine the flour and baking powder. Add the eggs and flour mixture to the vegetables and stir just until combined.
Heat a large, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat for 3 minutes. When hot, add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the batter by tablespoons into the skillet (making sure to spoon both batter and vegetables), leaving 1-inch between the cakes. Immediately drop a round of cheese into the center of each pancake. Top with another tablespoon of batter to enclose the cheese. Cook until golden brown on the bottom side, about 1 1/2 minutes. Flip with a spatula and cook on the 2nd side until golden brown, about 1 minute. Remove from the pan and place on a baking sheet. Keep warm in the oven while preparing the remaining pancakes.
Arrange the pancakes on a platter, drizzle with the tomato sauce, and serve immediately.
In a large bowl, combine the zucchini, onions, basil, zest, garlic, salt, and pepper. In a small bowl, combine the flour and baking powder. Add the eggs and flour mixture to the vegetables and stir just until combined.
Heat a large, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat for 3 minutes. When hot, add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the batter by tablespoons into the skillet (making sure to spoon both batter and vegetables), leaving 1-inch between the cakes. Immediately drop a round of cheese into the center of each pancake. Top with another tablespoon of batter to enclose the cheese. Cook until golden brown on the bottom side, about 1 1/2 minutes. Flip with a spatula and cook on the 2nd side until golden brown, about 1 minute. Remove from the pan and place on a baking sheet. Keep warm in the oven while preparing the remaining pancakes.
Arrange the pancakes on a platter, drizzle with the tomato sauce, and serve immediately.
I'm Cara, lover of creative, clean food and healthy living. Pumpkin, goat cheese, and eggplant make me swoon. I have an insatiable sweet tooth and desire to lift heavy things. 
Elly — March 30, 2007 @ 3:22 am
glad you liked the pancakes 🙂 i’m also glad you didn’t getthe number of pancakes called for because i didn’t get anywhere near 24 myself!