This week I bring you the Greek Connection: Krystina from Kouzounas Kitchen..Krystina and I met via our blogs very early on and she has always been so friendly and so supportive. She is a great cook and amazing pastry chef, check out her Instagram feed for mouth watering creations!
As you will see from Krystina’s story below, she is driven by her love of her Greek heritage and she shares lots of Greek and other recipes. She also posts about the fabulous pastries that she makes and sells, sadly over in the US, but it’s great to see how her business is building. I hope you enjoy Krystina’s simple, tasty recipe..for more, check out her blog..
So, Krsytina, what would you feed me….?
Growing up in a Greek family, I was always watching my family make amazing Greek dishes in the kitchen. My fascination with spanakopita started at an age of 8 years old, I loved phyllo dough, and watching my mom master spanakopita was so interesting to me. I would be her little sous chef, and help her prep the phyllo. I started cooking at a young age, and would try to duplicate many Greek recipes from my grandmother, and my parents. The story behind these zucchini fritters is one I will not forget….
I was in Athens back in 2009 and I remember eating at a taverna. The server recommended this mezes, and I said okay I will give it a try. Oh my, this was the best appetizer I have ever had. I enjoyed the zuchinni fritters with tzatziki and some nice retsina wine. When I came back to California I started making this appetizer; I like to combine tradtional and modern Greek recipes together.
I met Elaine while searching other food blogger’s recipes on WordPress a few years ago. I immediately connected with her on her blog, and loved her recipes. My dad’s family all passed from cancer and when I read Elaine’s ‘about me’ section on her blog, I knew right away we had a few things in common. (We both lost family and friends to cancer.) Ever since I lost my grandparents, uncles, and godfather to the horrible cancer, I became very interested in healthy Greek recipes. I graduated from Le Cordon Bleu as a pastry chef back in 2008 and I decided to branch out into the whole entire culinary field.
Nowadays I do catering, and three farmers markets in the Sacramento area. I specialize in Greek pastries & appetizers. I like to bring “fresh” Greek specialty items to Northern California.
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family does.
Thank you very much Elaine for featuring me. It is an honor to be able to share my recipe on your blog. :)
Zucchini Fritters (Κολοκυθάκια τηγανητά) Recipe
Ingredients:
• 3 zucchini, well-rinsed
• ¼ cup sliced white onion
• Pinch of fine sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• Pinch of cumin
• Pinch of freshly chopped dill
• Lemon (reserve juice)
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Directions:
1. Rinse your zucchini well and pat dry. Use a sharp knife to cut zucchini in very thin slices.
2. Pre heat your olive oil in a deep pan; make sure the pan is big enough to fit all the zucchini slices.
3. Add the zucchini and onion to the pan over medium heat and sauté for approximately 5 minutes on each side.
4. Once zucchini has a nice golden color to it, remove from heat.
5. To serve: Add the cumin, sea salt, pepper, and lemon juice to toss over zucchini. Plate with fresh dill.
6. These fritters are perfect with tzatziki dip.
Enjoy~
What a lovely plate of gorgoeus courgettes, another perfect dish for me, thank you so much Krystina – and thank you for sharing the story of this dish too xxx