What should you make when the end of zucchini season runs into apple season? Zucchini pancakes topped with fresh homemade applesauce, of course! I’ve always been a fan of latkes (a traditional Jewish potato pancake dish) and I’ve always loved them topped with both applesauce and sour cream. This recipe is reminiscent of that. I used some of the Soft Fresh Cassucio variety of Kite Hill cheese to crumble on top instead of sour cream, but a dollop of vegan sour cream would be wonderful. There’s something about the sweetness of the applesauce paired with the salty sourness of the cheese or sour cream that pairs perfectly with the pancake. I used a combination of gala and granny smith apples for the applesauce. You can used whatever apples you like. This is the perfect warm, comfort food meal to celebrate the beginning of fall, the end of zucchini season and the abundance of apples at this time of year.
The Recipe
FOR THE APPLESAUCE:
Makes about 1 1/2 cups of applesauce
5 large assorted apples (whichever variety you prefer — I used 3 large granny smith and 2 gala)
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 – 1/2 tsp cinnamon
splash of water (about 2 – 3 Tbls)
FOR THE PANCAKES:
Makes 8 4-inch pancakes
2 cups of grated zucchini
1/4 cup finely chopped/grated onion
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup of flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free all purpose baking mix)
1/2 tsp salt or to taste
generous grinds of black pepper
2 Tbls vegetable oil for frying
FOR THE APPLESAUCE:
Peel and core apples. Dice into small pieces and add to medium saucepan with lemon juice, splash of water, and cinnamon. Cover and let simmer on medium/low heat for 20 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. It should get nice and applesaucy. If you want it chunky, serve it as is. If you want it smooth, you can use an immersion blender or a food mill to dissolve the chunks.
FOR THE PANCAKES:
Grate zucchini and squeeze out the excess moisture from it with your hands (you don’t have to go crazy getting the moisture out — you do want a little moisture left to mix with the dry ingredients). In a bowl, mix the zucchini with the other ingredients. It helps to just combine these with your hands so you can make sure the dry ingredients get fully incorporated. Heat a griddle with the vegetable oil on medium heat (slightly on the higher side of medium). Form balls of the batter with your hands and pat them into flat patties (about 1/2 or 1/4 inch thick). When the pan is hot, place the patties onto the pan and let fry for 4-5 minutes on the first side and a few minutes on the other side. They should be golden brown and crispy on the outside and softer on the inside. Serve immediately with a couple of spoonfuls of warm applesauce and a dollop of vegan sour cream, if you desire. Enjoy!
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Yummmmmm!
🙂
It’s finally decided to be Fall down here in the South – just in time for me to move to the North… where I’m pretty sure it’s winter. So applesauce is definitely on my mind.
I’ve been researching canning before I go apple picking for the season – do you have any suggestions about preserving things like apple sauce? The whole canning operation seems rough.
These pancakes look yummy!
Oh yeah, you’re definitely going to need some applesauce to fend off an early winter up North. Good thing you’re moving to APPLE COUNTRY! Applesauce is really easy to can and we’ve done it quite a few times. We spent about $50 on a canning set up (with the pot, cage to hold the jars, funnel, canning tongs, etc.). This really helped. The trick is to keep things really sterile to avoid getting scary deadly bugs in your jars. We used a simple guide like this one to help us get started: http://www.freshpreserving.com/getting-started.aspx Hope this helps! It’s not scary once you’ve done it once or twice and a great way to save summer/fall foods through the winter. I always feel like I’m Laura Ingalls Wilder when I can stuff. 🙂
Such a simple yet elegant recipe! I love it. I totally by-passed buying zucchini the other day because I couldn’t think of anything interesting to do with it….am now regretting that decision.
I’ve done that so many times. We usually only eat zucchini when we have it in the garden (because it usually satisfies our zucchini cravings for the whole year), but we only have one left and I’m thinking about actually buying some too. 🙂