Sustainable home cook Anne-Marie Bonneau of Sunnyvale makes these savory vegetable pancakes when it’s time to clear out the crisper. Half a zucchini? A lone carrot? A handful of herbs? Throw them all in. The recipe, featured in Bonneau’s new cookbook, “The Zero-Waste Chef: Plant-Forward Recipes and Tips for a Sustainable Kitchen and Planet” (Avery; $25), should almost always includes potatoes. You simply cannot go wrong with potatoes, fat and salt, she says.
Eat-All-Your-Vegetables Pancakes
Makes a dozen 3-inch pancakes
INGREDIENTS
4 cups grated vegetables, such as russet potatoes, carrots, zucchini, sweet potatoes, turnips, parsnips or cabbage
1⁄4 cup bread crumbs or flour (all-purpose, whole wheat or rye)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil, for frying
DIRECTIONS
If using zucchini or potatoes, place them in the center of a thin dish towel. Roll up the towel and squeeze out the juice. Refrigerate or freeze the liquid for broth.
Place the vegetables in a large bowl and fluff with a fork. Stir in the bread crumbs, eggs, salt and pepper to taste and combine well.
Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add enough oil to coat it.
For each pancake, drop 1/4 cup of the batter into the hot pan. With a spatula, flatten it down so it’s about 1/4 inch thick. Flip after the bottom has browned, about 5 minutes. Remove from the pan once the other side has also browned, another 3 to 5 minutes.
Add more oil to the pan as necessary and continue cooking the pancakes. Keep them warm in the oven all together, or serve individually at once.
Serve with sour cream, aioli or chutney, if desired.
— From “The Zero-Waste Chef” (Avery; $25) by Anne-Marie Bonneau
