Zucchini and Corn Cakes

Like I mentioned before, my mom is incredibly generous with sharing the beautiful vegetables from her garden.  She recently gifted us with some zucchini and I wanted to find a creative way to use it.  When I recently saw a recipe on We Are Not Martha for corn cakes, I immediately knew that I wanted to give this recipe a try. 

In typical fashion, I adapted it a little based on what I had on hand.  First, I gathered my ingredients:

The bread crumbs, salt and pepper did not make it into the photo!

• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Fresh corn (from four ears of corn)
• 1 medium zucchini, diced
• 1/4 yellow onion, diced
• Coarse Salt and ground pepper
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1/4 cup plain bread crumbs

Bret and I got to work prepping the ingredients.  I diced up the zucchini while Bret stripped the corn
from the cob and diced up the onion.

I warmed up the Dutch oven on the stove with a few tablespoons of olive oil.  I then added the corn, zucchini and onion to the pan, along with some salt and pepper, and cooked until the vegetables had softened.

I removed the vegetables from the pan and put it into the freezer to cool down.  When the vegetables were at room temperature, I added the eggs and cornmeal to the vegetable mixture.  There was too much liquid from the onions and zucchini, and the zucchini and corn cake mixture didn't seem to bind.  Since I didn't have any more cornmeal, at Bret's suggestion, I added about a 1/4 cup of plain bread crumbs to the bowl.  This definitely did the trick.

I warmed up two skillets on the stove with a few tablespoons of olive oil each.  Using my hands, I made small zucchini and corn cake patties.  I dropped the cakes into the skillets and cooked them for a few minutes on each side. 

While I was working on the zucchini and corn cakes, Bret got to work on the grill with these fantastic buffalo-style chicken sausages.

And soon enough, dinner was ready.  Most of the corn cakes held together but some were a big crumbly.  I think next time, I need to strain the vegetables with a paper towel after they are cooked.  In addition, I'd definitely make the patties a little smaller and thinner for future cooking.

Still, these corn cakes were pretty flavorful and the sweetness of the corn went perfectly with the spicy chicken sausage. 

We washed everything down with some Blue Hills Brewery Watermelon Wheat, which made this another perfect summer meal!

Tell me, what is your favorite way to cook or bake zucchini?