Courgette & Chive Pancakes

Courgette & Chive Pancakes are incredibly simple but so good. Crispy at the edges, soft inside, and with a subtle taste of chives and Parmesan cheese.

Put together in minutes then shallow fried, they make a great breakfast or brunch topped with eggs or a dollop of sour cream and more chives.

Can also be eaten as a main meal with salad.

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EGGS & VEG

I’m always on the lookout for good brunch ideas. Most weekday mornings, I’m out walking the dog first thing and when I get back I’m usually pretty hungry. As I try to keep carbs to a minimum during the week, toast is not on the menu. But what I do eat a lot of are nutritious and versatile eggs.

Fried eggs with sliced avocado, a squirt of both sriracha and hoisin sauces and a sprinkle of sesame seeds makes a regular appearance. As does soft boiled eggs with baked sweet potato fries for dipping in. Homestead Eggs with apple, onion and bacon is a recently discovered favourite.

You’ll notice that all of these include vegetables (and/or fruit) in some form. That’s because I think, if you’re going to get your minimum of five portions a day, you’re best to include some at every mealtime.

Some of my favourite egg and veg combos are hash browns or vegetable pancakes. These include Cauliflower Hash Browns, sweet potato hash browns and the Courgette & Chive Pancakes I want to share with you today. These all have eggs in the batter, but are great topped with eggs too.

COURGETTE & CHIVE PANCAKES

To shred the courgette for these pancakes, I use a julienne peeler. This neat but cheap little gadget gives nice long, thin strands of courgette. If you don’t have a julienne peeler than just grate the courgette into strands as long as possible.

Also in the mix are thinly sliced onion, beaten eggs, garlic and chives, Parmesan cheese and a little flour to bind.

Rather than mixing all the ingredients together at the start, here’s a little tip to stop the batter becoming waterlogged. Mix the prepared courgette, onion and garlic with a little salt and pepper then set aside for 5 minutes. After this time, if you take handfuls of the mixture and squeeze over a sink, you’ll find the excess water will come out.

Then all you need to do is add the rest of the ingredients and get frying.

I like to fry the pancakes in a mixture of olive and butter, but you could use either. Using a smallish pan, I make one Courgette & Chive Pancake at a time, cooking on both sides until brown. Then I pop it in on a tray in a low oven to keep warm while I make the rest of the pancakes.

The amounts given in the recipe at the end of the post should give you four pancakes. This is enough for two people, providing them with around one and a half vegetable portions each.

You could make eight smaller pancakes if you prefer, like the ones near the top of this post served with salad.

SERVING COURGETTE & CHIVE PANCAKES

My favourite way of eating these crispy-edged, soft-in-the-middle pancakes is with a blob of soured or soft cream cheese, a few more chopped chives sprinkled over the top.

If you’re very hungry, then a couple of runny-yolked poached or fried eggs are an excellent accompaniment.

But there’s no reason you can’t enjoy Courgette & Chive Pancakes as part of a main meal, alongside a large mixed salad with a punchy dressing.

If you want to make in advance: cool the cooked pancakes and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Reheat in a low oven until piping hot.

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Courgette & Chive Pancakes

Crispy on the outside, soft in the middle these veggie pancakes are great for breakfast, brunch or a main meal with salad.

Course Breakfast, Main Course, Lunch, Light Meal

Cuisine Vegetarian

Keyword pancake, courgette pancakes

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Resting time 5 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 2 people

Author Moorlands Eater

Ingredients

• 1 large courgette (approx 250g) julienned or grated
• 1 small onion skinned & thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic finely chopped or grated
• salt & pepper to taste
• 2 eggs
• 20 g Parmesan cheese finely grated
• 2 tbsp chives finely chopped
• 40 g flour
• olive oil and/or butter for frying

To serve (optional but highly recommended)

• 2 tbsp soured cream, creme fraiche or cream cheese
• 1 tbsp chives finely chopped

Instructions

1. Pre heat the oven to low with a shallow baking tray inside.
   

2. Take a large bowl and put in the prepared courgette, onion and garlic. Season with salt and pepper, mix well then set aside for 5 minutes.
   

3. Take handfuls of the courgette mixture and squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
   

4. Beat the eggs, Parmesan, chives and flour into the courgette mixture to make a thick batter.
   

5. Heat the olive oil and/or butter in a small frying pan over a medium heat.
   

6. Taking a quarter of the pancake mixture at a time, ladle it into the hot fat and spread it out into a pancake approximately 10 cm in diameter (or make 8 smaller pancakes).

   Fry until browned and set underneath then flip over.

   Cook the other side then transfer to the baking tray in the oven while you use up the rest of the batter.

7. Eat warm, topped with soured cream, creme fraiche or cream cheese and a sprinkle of chopped chives.
   

Recipe Notes

Cold pancakes will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat in a low oven.