A post for our dear friend Chicago John, who was sure
we had one more trombie post left in us this year…
. . . . .
Remember our self-sown mutant tromboncino plant?
It’s now producing fruit which looks like a cross between a trombie and a butternut pumpkin. We’ve cut up the smaller one and it tastes just like a tromboncino – as you can imagine, I’m pretty chuffed to have them growing in the garden again…
As the plant is just starting to take off, I thought it might be a good idea to eat up some of the frozen stash we had from last season. The recipe for marrow omelettes in Abla’s Lebanese Kitchen sounded very appealing, and quite different from normal fritters (of which I’m not usually a fan). These were absolutely delicious – the addition of parsley, mint and allspice gave them an exotic flavour which everyone found very moreish.
Here’s my take on the recipe:
- 1kg grated tromboncino pulp (the original recipe used 750g grated Lebanese zucchini)
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- ½ cup chopped continental parsley (flat leaf)
- ½ cup chopped mint
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- several grinds of black pepper
- ½ teaspoon pimento (allspice)
- ½ teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder
- 110g (¾ cup) self-raising flour
- 4 large (59g) free-range eggs
- 180ml (¾ cup) light olive oil, for frying
1. Squeeze the pulp firmly to remove as much liquid as possible. My grated trombie had been frozen and then defrosted, so I was able to squeeze quite a lot of liquid out. Place the well-drained pulp a large mixing bowl with the onion, parsley, mint, salt, pepper, pimento and chilli. Add the flour and stir well to combine.
2. Beat the eggs in a small bowl, then add them to the other ingredients and mix well to combine.
3. Heat the oil in a frying pan over high heat, then drop in a tablespoon of the mixture, flattening it out with the back of a spatula. Fry a few fritters at a time, being careful not to overcrowd the pan. Cook until golden brown (about 3-5 minutes per side), then drain on a paper towel. We served ours with a little yoghurt on the side.
These fritters are delicious hot or at room temperature. They’re a wonderful vegetarian main dish, but equally as good on top of a slice of sourdough the following day. They keep well in the fridge for a couple of days.
Hope you’re all having a fabulous festive season! x
. . . . .
Previous Trombie Recipes:
- Tromboncino Bhajis
- Tromboncino Soup
- Assorted Trombie Recipes
(savoury slice, laksa, lasagne and chocolate cake) - Tromboncino Stir-Fry (yellow bean paste)
- Garden Ratatouille
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Thanks for this Celia. I think I have 4 Tromboncino plants in this year. The lady who gave them to me lost the tag so is only 99% sure that is what I have. But good zucchini recipes will hopefully be required regardless of what I have planted :)
Tania, we had four trombies last year, this year we’ve only managed to plant two plus the self-sown one. Hope yours turn out to be trombies! :)
Hi Celia just home from a rather grueling session of babysitting my grandsons and up pops a post from you, couldn’t think of anything better. Well maybe that long cool glass of wine I just poured myself. How did your boys take to……… ‘the return of the trombies’………….
Madge, thank you! They didn’t take it TOO badly, Pete ate silently, but Big Boy couldn’t resist. He said, “these taste great, EVEN though they’re made with tromboncinos..” :) I told him to suck it up, as he’d be eating a lot more in the coming months.. ;-)
Of course you had more tromboncino ideas up your sleeve and this one looks terrific. Although I don’t think I’ve even seen a real tromboncino plant, I’ve certainly seen the prolific zucchini. I was thinking of what I would garnish them with & see you’ve used yogurt. I’m thinking sour cream or maybe even a tomato based pasta sauce would be good too. So many possibilities but that’s good since you’ve got so many tromboncino’s.
Diane, they’re such a versatile veg, though as you say, that’s probably for the best given how heavily they crop. They’re less wet than a zucchini, which means we get to use them for both zucchini AND squash recipes. I was very chuffed with these, as they were made from the pulp we’d grated and frozen earlier on in the year from our giant ones – and they tasted wonderful! :)
These look great, Celia, and I’m sure John is very proud you’ve managed to pull-off yet another trombie recipe. You should make these the next time your vegetarian friends come for dinner. These look to me like they’d make a lovely hot breakfast too xx
Charlie, I did! I served them with moghrabieh – as both dishes had allspice in them, they went to together brilliantly! I made them a second time yesterday and served them with Christmas drinks, they were a huge hit! :) xx
Celia, your tromboncinoes live on in my garden. I have two scrambly plants growing up a trellis and the first female flower open today. Not all the seeds germinated but the two plants we have are certainly strong and we look forward to tasting the first tromboncino. Thank you so much for the seeds.
Ivy, I’m so happy to hear that! We had an astonishingly low germination rate as well – we only managed two viable plants from the seeds we planted – they’re in the garden now as well, but the self-sown one is miles ahead of them. Just one thing – we need to hand-pollinate our female flowers – you might have more luck than we do, but we seem to lack whatever the pollinators are in our garden… x
These look marvelous- I just bought some zuchini and will try these for a side dish! Thank you!
Heidi, the flavours are fabulous – quite different from the usual fritters I’ve tasted in the past. Hope you enjoy them! :)
The chilli would be great in these Celia, yummo. My self sown trombo is streets ahead of my other zucchini plants too, with heaps of flowers. Sadly the only veggies ready for Christmas are lettuce, the November frosts were a big setback :( X
Becca, I’m sorry to hear that! Gardening in Canberra can be tricky. Hope the festive season is going well – I adore my chookie card! :) xx
You are producing some future heritage seeds, aren’t you :) ? What an interesting fruit!! Love the recipe ~ more so that it is ‘dedicated’ to John and hope he gets to take a bow soonest :) ! Meanwhile, love the recipe and hope it is all smiles your place travelling towards Yule!!!!
Thanks Eha! Have a great festive season!
Those look delicious! I am going to plant some next year. Thanks for your inspiring posts about tromboncinos!
Manuela, I hope they go really well for you! I like them more than zucchinis, although Big Boy isn’t convinced. :)
These sound wonderful Celia. I love the look of your mutant vege. So pretty!
Claire, that’s what I thought too! It was such an attractive looking fruit! :)
I love using mint with vegetables like this!
Tandy, I don’t do it very often, except with things like peas! I’ll have to experiment more!
I love the fritters! I am completely unfamiliar with Tromboncino, however. There is nothing exactly like it here in Southern California–at least not by that name. I can see the similarity to other summer squash, but the color is very nice, and slightly different from what I would expect. I will definitely be on the lookout next spring/summer, and see if I’ve missed something. :-) In between, I’ll improvise with another squash. I think others would be delicious with your wonderful mixture of ingredients!
Oops, sorry about that, I’ve been banging on about the trombies so much that I forgot new visitors might not know about them. Here’s a post I wrote on them last December: https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2012/12/19/tromboncinos/
They’re a zucchini-like squash, known in Italian as the “rampant zucchini”. There’s also another variety rather romantically called the “Serpent of Sicily” – must try growing those one year as well! :)
Oh dont they look great a bit like a zebra donkey . I love the look of your fritters, delicious x
Thanks darling! They really were – such a nice change in flavours with the allspice and mint! xx
Thanks for the recipe! the fritters look yummy!!!
Thanks Ale! Merry Christmas to you and your lovely family! :)
It never occured to me to add mint to veg. What other veg do you add it to?
(ps – Happy Christmas to you and your family, Celia!)
Thanks Misky, Happy Christmas to you all as well! I don’t add mint nearly as much as I could – sometimes to peas and potatoes, but that’s about it. I’ll have to get more creative! :)
I also do peas. Hadn’t thought of potatoes but I bet that’s nice on new potatoes. Must try that! :)
I could have sworn I commented on this yesterday but I’m not here :) Maybe I was swooning too much over these fritters and forgot to hit post comment. I love fritters and I’m sure these would make me very happy.
Merry Christmas to all of you!
Maureen, I’d send you a trombie in the mail, but that would just be silly.. ;-) Hope Christmas is gentle and happy and restful for you! xx
Ha! I’ve giggled my way through your entire post, Celia. I think tromboncini have found a new home in your garden. I think you’re going to always have one of these vines in your garden from here on out. And I’ll be treated to a few giggles whenever I read one of your posts featuring them. :)
Yaay! You saw the post! I remembered your comment on our last post – which was late August – and I said to Pete when we made the fritters, “Chicago John was right..” :) All the very best for a fabulous Christmas and 2014, dear friend.. xx
Oh my that is a mutant plant! But what a fabulous mutant! And those fritters do sound delicious! I really should get round to freezing more squash and courgettes, it would be a treat to have them in winter when all is brrr!
Claire, I kept thinking it would split, but it didn’t – so happy to have such pretty fruit! I wonder how big this one would get – as it’s only a single plant, I’m reluctant to let any of the fruit get too large too soon, or it will stop cropping! :) I’ve tested it out for you, and freezing the grated pulp works a treat. It does need squeezing out when it defrosts though!
Ah my reliable kitchen tester at work for me!!!! My main problem is lack of freezer space, but next year that will change as we have created a space for another freezer so we can store more of the goodies from the allotment – especially the fruit. Which reminds me somewhere in the depths of the freezer are some strawberries…. that’s Christmas day breakfast sorted then :) Happy gardening my friend x
Wow how they’ve morphed! It does look like a butternut shape indeed but with different markings! Does that happen often? :D
[…] Courgette Fritters. I tend to throw in a random selection of ingredients. You may be better to follow Celia’s instructions for Tromboncino Fritters here. […]