This Week's Kitchen
Every week we pick a handful of what's coming out of the ground in biggest supply and build a few simple meals around it to help you with your meal planning. This week it's zucchini — it's absolutely pouring out of the garden right now, so we've gone all in: a savoury fritter, a baked slice, and a brownie that proves zucchini belongs in dessert too. Here's what we're cooking with it.
1. Crispy Zucchini Fritters with Lemon Yoghurt and Mint
A reliable weeknight favourite — crisp outside, soft inside, with a cooling yoghurt sauce on top.
Time: 25 min · Serves: 4 · Featuring: Zucchini
Ingredients
- 3 medium zucchini, coarsely grated
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup self-raising flour
- 1/3 cup crumbled feta
- 2 spring onions, sliced
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Oil, for frying
- 1/2 cup Greek yoghurt
- Small handful mint, chopped
- Juice of 1/2 lemon, extra
Method
- Toss grated zucchini with salt and stand 10 minutes, then squeeze out as much liquid as you can in a tea towel.
- Mix zucchini with eggs, flour, feta, spring onion and lemon zest into a thick batter.
- Fry heaped spoonfuls in oil over medium heat, about 3 minutes each side, until golden and cooked through.
- Stir mint and extra lemon juice through the yoghurt. Serve fritters warm with a generous dollop on top.
Make it a meal — choose your protein
- Vegan — swap the eggs for a flax egg, and the feta and yoghurt for dairy-free versions.
- Vegetarian — as written.
- This week's meat option — griddled haloumi or a few slices of prosciutto on the side. Source it from Richo's Regen Farm (formerly Chef2Farmer).
2. Double Chocolate Zucchini Brownies
A sneaky way to use up the zucchini glut — rich, fudgy, and nobody will guess what's in them.
Time: 50 min · Serves: 12 · Featuring: Zucchini
Ingredients
- 2 cups grated zucchini, squeezed dry
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups plain flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp bicarb soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips, plus extra for the top
Method
- Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a 20 x 30cm slice tin with baking paper.
- Squeeze as much liquid as you can from the grated zucchini in a tea towel — you want it fairly dry.
- Whisk together sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla, then stir through the zucchini.
- Sift in flour, cocoa, baking powder, bicarb and salt, folding just until combined. Fold through the chocolate chips.
- Spread into the tin, scatter extra chocolate chips on top, and bake 25–30 minutes until a skewer comes out mostly clean.
- Cool in the tin before slicing — they firm up as they cool.
Make it your own
- Gluten-free — swap the plain flour for a gluten-free blend, 1:1.
- Dairy-free — use dairy-free dark chocolate chips (most are naturally dairy-free, just check the label).
- Nobody will know — don't tell the kids what's in them until after the first bite.
3. Baked Zucchini, Feta & Herb Slice
A good-for-everything slice — pack it for lunches, serve it warm for dinner, or have a slice cold from the fridge.
Time: 55 min · Serves: 6 · Featuring: Zucchini
Ingredients
- 4 medium zucchini, coarsely grated
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup self-raising flour
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 5 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 cup crumbled feta
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan
- Handful parsley, chopped
- Handful dill, chopped
- Salt and pepper
Method
- Preheat oven to 180°C and grease a medium baking dish.
- Toss grated zucchini with salt and stand 10 minutes, then squeeze out as much liquid as you can.
- Mix zucchini, onion, flour, oil, eggs, feta, parmesan and herbs into a thick batter. Season well.
- Pour into the dish and bake 35–40 minutes until golden and set in the middle.
- Rest 10 minutes before slicing. Good warm or at room temperature.
Make it a meal — choose your protein
- Vegan — swap the eggs for a flax egg blend and use a plant-based feta.
- Vegetarian — as written.
- This week's meat option — serve alongside grilled lamb cutlets, or crumble a few rashers of bacon through the batter. Source it from Richo's Regen Farm (formerly Chef2Farmer).
This Week's Simple Menu
One way to use your veggies without repeating a meal. Every night now has a vegan, vegetarian and meat option so everyone at the table is covered — the meat options below are this week's picks from our friends at Richo's Regen Farm (formerly Chef2Farmer), and we'll update them together each week based on what they've got.
| Day | Meal | Veg Used | Vegan | Vegetarian | Meat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | Crispy Zucchini Fritters with Lemon Yoghurt and Mint | Zucchini | Flax egg, dairy-free feta and yoghurt | As written | Griddled haloumi or prosciutto |
| Wed | Baked Zucchini, Feta & Herb Slice | Zucchini | Flax egg, plant-based feta | As written | Grilled lamb cutlets or bacon |
Weekend treat: save the Double Chocolate Zucchini Brownies for Saturday baking with the kids — a good way to use up any zucchini still left in the fridge come the weekend.