Zucchini Balls (Kolokythokeftedes) from Kopiaste

Why do we blog? For everyone out there the reason may be different why we began blogging. In my case I started my blog to share my recipes with family and friends. It was a revelation one day that other people around the world were watching as well so the focus changed. What started as a means of recording family favourites and recipes I learned on my life changing sojourn to Greece and Keartisanal had changed forever. With more and more knowledge of other cuisines and methods of cooking I branched out and started to share recipes I had wanted to try. I began to challenge and push myself to the limit to come up with something innovative or tried recipes from my fellow bloggers, the net and cookbooks. All the hoopla about copyright and using recipes from other sources has made me a little gun shy of trying and writing about what others have done. In the end I have to remember why I started blogging and just continue to share what I have discovered with others.

In one short explanation I have started to grow as a cook and really became addicted to the challenge of blogging and experimentation. I think that one of the most valuable bonuses of blogging are all the friends I have made all over the world who follow my site when they can and offer their encouragement, unending friendship and insight. One such person I have met during this process is my blog sister Ivy at Kopiaste. Ivy and I have shared many delicious recipes and thoughts in general. She is always cooking up a storm in her kitchen in Athens where the love for her family and cooking shine through. For the most part she makes traditional Cypriot and Greek dishes that leave me drooling on my keyboard. Today she bestowed upon me this award.

Brilliant Weblog is a prize given to sites and blogs that are smart and brilliant both in their content and their design. The purpose of the prize is to promote as many blogs as possible in the blogosphere.

Here are the rules to follow :

When you receive the prize you must write a post showing it, together with the name of who has given it to you, and link them back.

Choose a minimum of 7 blogs (or even more) that you find brilliant in their content or design.
Show their names and links and leave them a comment informing they were prized with ‘Brilliant Weblog’.

Show a picture of those who awarded you and those you give the prize (optional).

As Ivy says, "As always it’s not easy to choose among so many wonderful blogs". Each and every one of you deserves recognition which is what passing these awards is all about, so, I am passing this award on to:

David and his little munchin Cery of Book the Cook from the north of England.

Nikki of Canarygirl.com blogging from the Canary Islands
Dharm of Dad-Baker-Chef cooking up a storm for the kids and Lovely Wife (who is now revealed and is indeed lovely) from Malaysia

Judy of No Fear Entertaining bravely digging her feet in in the face of hurricane season in Florida
Nuria of Spanish Recipes from you guessed it Spain
Helene of La Cuisine d'Helene a French Canadian living on the island
Parker of Vanilla Bean Cafe also a fellow Canadian

You can pass it along if you wish or just covet it in the knowledge that you are appreciated.

In honour of my sister Ivy I have made one of her recipes for Zucchini Balls (Kolokythokeftedes) according to her own recipe. It is funny how I had planned to prepare these today and dedicate them to her anyway!!!They would make a wonderful lunch or meze. I closed my eyes and I was overlooking the Agean Sea sitting in a cafe in a small town that Ivy mentioned recently.. drinking a nice glass of world class Greek wine and taking in the ambiance.

**Zucchini Balls (Kolokythokeftedes)**

5 green zucchini, grated
1 onion, grated
5 spring onions finely chopped
½ bunch of parsley and dill, finely chopped
1 egg
2 spoonfuls of dried mint
Salt and pepper
Flour
1 teaspoonful of baking powder
1 spoonful of olive oil
1/2 cup of feta cheese, or xynomyzithra (crumbled) or grated halloumi, graviera or kefalotyri
Extra virgin olive oil for frying

****************

Wash the vegetables and let them drain the water away. Grate the courgettes and onions and place into a colander with salt for half an hour. See how much water was drained. Squeeze to remove any remaining fluid. Place in a bowl with a slice of bread to absorb any excess fluid. Throw bread away before mixing all ingredients. Now break the egg into the bowl and add cheese of your preference, spring onions, chopped herbs and salt and pepper.(Easy on the salt, as all cheese mentioned above are quite salty and don’t forget that we added salt to the grated courgettes).Continue to massage the mixture between fingers after adding flour and baking powder until you have a smooth, but not runny, consistency. After this, the mixture is helped by being allowed to stand in the fridge for, at least, an hour, before frying in olive oil. (I fried them the following day). Again place a slice of bread in the bowl because after standing, the mixture will ‘leak’ water or add a bit more flour to return to correct consistency.

Scoop out patties with a spoon, and make flattened patties on a floured surface. Fry in hot olive oil. The level of olive oil in the frying pan should cover half the patty. (Turn the patties once, browning both sides.

Finish by placing them on absorbent paper for a minute.