The Daring Cooks: Patties

green and yellow zucchini, prosciutto, and cheese fritters

The Daring Cooks’ February 2012 challenge was hosted by Audax and Lis and they chose to present Patties for their ease of construction, ingredients and deliciousness!  We were given several recipes, and learned the different types of binders and cooking methods to produce our own tasty patties!

The downloadable file of all the delicious recipes, useful info, and tips that Audax and Lis tirelessly prepared for us is here.

Thank you Lis and Audax for co-hosting this month's cooking challenge. I enjoyed adapting, making, and eating 2 of the suggested patty recipes; they are both delicious and easy to make too. I also prepared a third one, breakfast sausage patties for homemade Sausage McMuffin with Egg on whole wheat English muffins. I suggest using a very hot cast iron pan for crusty patties.

So, what are patties/pattys? Patties are flattened discs of ingredients held together by binders such as eggs, flour, or breadcrumbs or a combination, then fried (stir, deep or shallow) or sometimes baked. Burgers, rissoles, croquettes, fritters, and rösti are types of patties as well. What I like about patties is you can combine ingredients that you like and serve them however you like.

Zucchini, Prosciutto, and Cheese Fritters
2 medium size zucchini
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup grated Romano cheese
1 ounce prosciutto, cut into small pieces
½ cup  all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1 tablespoon chilli paste
pinch of freshly ground black pepper
pinch of sea salt
2 tablespoons light olive oil for frying

• Grate the zucchini with a box grater or food processor. Place into large bowl, add salt, wait 10 minutes.
• While waiting for the zucchini, pan fry the prosciutto pieces until cooked. Remove from pan and place prosciutto onto rack; this will crisp up the prosciutto when it cools.
• When zucchini is ready wrap in a cloth and squeeze dry; discard liquid. Return dried zucchini to bowl, add prosciutto, cheese, pepper, flour, baking powder, chilli paste, pepper, sea salt and the lightly beaten eggs. Mix until combined (if the batter is too thick you can add water or milk or another egg, if too wet add some more flour). It should be thick and should not flow when placed onto the frying pan.
• Preheat a cast iron to medium hot, add 1/3 of the oil and heat until it shimmers. Using a 2-tablespoon ice cream scoop, place dollops of batter onto the fry pan, widely spaced out, and with the back of a spoon smooth out each dollop to about 2 inches. Lower heat to medium and fry for 3 to 4 minutes on the first side, flip, then fry the other side for 2 to 3 minutes until golden brown.  Repeat for the remaining batter, adding extra oil as needed.

French Onion Salisbury Beef or Turkey Steak

steaks and sauce

1¼ pounds ground chuck (or turkey)

¼ cup fresh parsley, minced

2 tablespoons minced scallion

1 teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups sliced onions

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 cups beef or chicken broth

¼ dry red wine

¾ teaspoon sea salt

½ teaspoon dried thyme

4 teaspoons fresh parsley, minced

4 teaspoons coarsely shredded Parmesan cheese

cheese toasts 
4 slices French baguette, sliced diagonally, ½ inch thick
2 tablespoons soft unsalted butter
¼ teaspoon minced garlic
pinch of paprika
¼ grated Swiss cheese
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese plus extra for topping

• Steaks: Combine chuck or turkey, parsley, scallion, salt and pepper. Divide evenly into 4 portions and shape each into ¾ inch-thick oval patties. Place 2 tablespoons flour in a shallow dish; dredge each patty in flour. Reserve 1 teaspoon flour. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add patties and sauté 3 minutes on each side, or until browned. Transfer steaks into a plate; set aside. Add onions and sugar to pan; sauté 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and tomato paste; sauté 1 minute, or until paste begins to brown. Sprinkle mixture with reserved flour and cook 1 minute. Stir in broth and wine, then add salt and thyme. Return meat to pan and bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer 20 minutes. Serve steaks on cheese toasts with onion soup ladled over. Garnish with parsley and Parmesan. 
• Cheese Toasts: Preheat oven to moderately hot 200°C/400ºF. Place bread on baking sheet. Combine butter, garlic and paprika and spread on one side of each slice of bread. Combine cheeses and sprinkle evenly over butter. Bake until bread is crisp and cheese is bubbly, 10 to 15 minutes.

Breakfast Sausage

2 teaspoons dried sage
2 teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon fresh;y ground black pepper
½ tablespoon brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 pounds ground pork
2 tablespoons light olive oil

• In a small bowl, mix sage, salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Add spice mix to the pork and mix with gloved hands or rubber spatula. Form into desired size patties. Heat oil in a skillet or cast iron pan and fry patties until golden brown.