Zucchini Pancakes with Hollandaise Sauce

If you're anything like John you saw the heading for zuchinni pancakes and thought "umm...no thanks."  If you're a good sport, like John, you'll be happy you kept a smile on your face and tried these delicious veggie pancakes. John admitted to being less than thrilled about this dish, but when I was done making the first batch he said, "Can you make like 20 more?" Pairing them with the hollandaise sauce made it extra yummy and added some great creaminess and flavor to the dish. I'd serve these for breakfast (Saturday breakfast in our case) or as a side to some chicken or other light entree. Let me know what you think!

PS: Again, these came from Barefoot Contessa At Home. I'm trying to make the most of this great cookbook my Aunt Em gave me! The recipe didn't call for or recommend the hollandaise sauce, but I think it's an excellent addition - though certainly not required! :)

Zucchini Pancakes with Hollandaise Sauce
Recipe by Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa)
Yields about 12 pancakes  
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Ingredients:

Zuchinni pancakes:
*2 medium zuchinni
*2 tablespoons grated red onion
*2 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
*6-8 tablespoons all-purpose flour (note: I ended up using 10)
*1 teaspoon baking powder
*1 teaspoon salt
*1/2 teaspoon pepper
*unsalted butter and vegetable oil

Hollandaise sauce:
*1 1/2 sticks butter
*4 egg yolks at room temperature (you can put them out for a whole 24 hours before they'll go bad)
*1 1/2 teaspoons salt, if using unsalted butter
*3/4 teaspoon pepper
*3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preparation:

Zuchninni Pancakes:
*Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

*Grate the zuchinni into a bowl using the large grating side of a box grater. Immediately stir in the onion and eggs.

*Stir in 6 tablespoons of the flour, the baking powder, salt and pepper. (If the batter gets too thin from the liquid in the zuchinni, add the remaining 2 - or more - tablespoons of flour). 

*Heat a large (10 to 12-inch) saute pan over medium heat (*for our electric stove medium-high was required) and melt 1/2 tablespoon butter and 1/2 tablespoon oil together in the pan. When the butter is hot, but not smoking, lower the heat to medium-low (*medium for our electric stove).

*Drop heaping spoons of batter into the pan. Cook the pancakes about 2 minutes on each side, or until browned and crisp (see pictures).

*Place the pancakes on a sheet pan and keep warm in the oven. Wipe out the pan and continue to fry the pancakes until all the batter is used. The pancakes can stay warm in the oven up to 30 minutes.

Hollandaise sauce:
*Melt butter in a small saucepan. Heat until butter is hot! (I decided my butter was hot enough just as it started to bubble and steam a bit.)

*Place the egg yolks, lemon juice, salt and pepper in the jar of a blender. Blend for 15 seconds.

*With the blender running, slowly pour the hot butter into the blender and blend for 30 seconds until sauce is thick.

I mixed the egg and onion before grating the zuchinni.

Grated zuchinni

Last of the ingredients. You can see the juice from the zuchinnis starting to pool.

Batter all ready to go.

Looking and smelling great!

Thick, creamy, EASY hollandaise sauce

A little glance of the inside of the pancake.