These golden, airy, feather-like vegetable galettes or fritters are inspired by New York City chef Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin. His cookbook Vegetable Simple is a treasure-trove of uncomplicated, healthy vegetable creations and the perfect addition to your cookbook collection if you are trying to get more vegetables into your diet. The nutrient-rich zucchini is just coming into season in France and makes for an ideal Nourish candidate, since it is so versatile, healthy and one of the best no-waste vegetables around. Here, you can grate the entire vegetable, without even trimming it! Serve the galettes as a main dish at lunch or as a side dish to a main meal. One can play around with herbs and seasoning, making a curry-seasoned yogurt sauce and adding curry to the galette batter, or swapping fresh oregano, chives, mint, or cilantro for the dill.

Zucchini Galettes

Makes 8 galettes | Equipment: A box grater; an 11-inch (28 cm) nonstick skillet; a 1/4 cup (60 ml) measure

Ingredients

Sauce
1/2 cup (125 ml) organic sheep’s milk yogurt
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt

Galettes
2 medium zucchini (about 1 pound; 500g total)
1  1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill
1/4 small red onion, diced
2 large organic and free-range eggs
1/2 cup (80 g) instant polenta
1 teaspoon baking powder

2  tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil  

Method

1. In a small bowl, combine the yogurt, dill, and salt, and blend with a fork. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve the galettes.

2. On the large holes of the box grater, grate the zucchini into a large bowl. Combine the grated zucchini, onion, and 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt and toss gently. Set aside for 5 minutes. Transfer the zucchini mixture to the center of a clean kitchen towel and, over a sink, squeeze out as much liquid as possible.

3. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs together. Add the zucchini mixture, polenta, baking powder, and 1 teaspoon of salt and mix thoroughly.

4. In the skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Fill the 1/4 cup (60 ml) measure with the galette batter and pour into the pan, pressing down to form a galette about 4 inches (10 cm) in diameter. Continue with 3 more galettes. Cook until golden brown on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and keep warm. Repeat with the remaining oil and batter. Serve warm with the yogurt-dill sauce.

This is adapted from a recipe by Eric Ripert for Nourish the Planet, part of a collaborative series by Patricia Wells and Emily Buchanan.
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