Welcome (back) to the blog and thanks for taking the time to stop by on another Meatless Monday. We at Planet Forward took the pledge to support this sustainable practice that promotes eliminating meat from your diet one day per week with the goal of reducing meat consumption by 15% to improve personal and planetary health. A small sacrifice for a big reward.

Today we are making a meal that is delicious, easy, light and made using local, seasonal vegetables which makes it even more eco-friendly. The Meatless Monday movement is meant to make us think about the impact the food we eat has on the planet and beyond choosing meat-free meals whenever possible, eating locally is another key component.   Our zucchini flower fritters with arugula recipe comes courtesy of Canadian Chef Massimo Capra, owner of Toronto restaurants Mistura and Sopra. Chef Massimo shared this recipe during a recent appearance on Cityline with Tracey Moore.

Ingredients:

• 1lb zucchini and zucchini flower
• 2 cups Parmigiano Reggiano
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 bunch arugula, washed & dried
• 2 cups mache washed & dried
• 1 cup green peas, blanched
• 1 pint cherry tomato, cut in half
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp honey
• Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Wash and dry the zucchini; separate the flower & remove the pestles, and julienne finely. Then grate the zucchini and season with some salt. Then place in a strainer and allow draining for about ½hr.
2. Remove the zucchini from the strainer and squeeze well to remove excess water, place in a bowl and add the flowers to it.  Mix well. Add the grated cheese and the egg yolks, season with some pepper. Mix and set aside, you now have a batter.
3. Preheat a non-stick skillet and grease the bottom with a drop of olive oil. Add the zucchini batter and press down gently to make a pancake. Cook at medium heat until golden and flip to the other side, repeat the same. Do the same three more times until all the batter is done.
4. Prepare the vinaigrette by mixing the olive oil, mustard, lemon juice and honey along with some salt and pepper to taste. Toss the salads with the green peas, and tomato add the vinaigrette.
5. Place a pancake on a plate and top with a generous amount of salad and serve immediately.

This recipe for zucchini flower fritters with arugula will yield four portions and although the original recipe called for crispy bacon it is not essential to the dish so we left it out and it’s even better. You can do this with a plethora of recipes that call for different types of meat which are used for flavor and most dishes will not suffer for it. In this recipe the bacon was merely another element to the salad and thus not instrumental.

Zucchini flowers are a delicacy and “are only around for a short time so use them while you can.” If you grow your own zucchini, pick the open flowers that are on a thin stem (male) rather than the ones with the thick stem (female) as they will grow to become zucchini. If you can’t get zucchini flowers, this dish will work just as fine with shredded zucchini.

If you want to learn more about this sustainable practice, visit meatlessmonday.com and take the pledge today.

Enjoy.