Savoury Courgette & Feta Waffles

📝 Ingredients

• 1 large courgette (about 350 g)
• 3 eggs
• 150 g plain flour
• 150 ml semi-skimmed milk
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 120 g feta
• 10 fresh mint leaves
• 1 tbsp olive oil + 1 tsp for the waffle iron
• 250 g natural yoghurt, 1.5% fat (2 pots) + 1 garlic clove (for the sauce)
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Grater
• Colander
• Clean tea towel
• Mixing bowl and whisk
• Waffle iron
• Wire rack

📖 Steps

1. Wash the courgette, trim the ends and grate it on the coarse side of the grater, without peeling. Put it in a colander, mix with ½ tsp salt and leave to drain for 10 min: the salt draws the water out of the courgette.
2. While the courgette drains, make the sauce: peel the garlic clove, finely grate or crush it, then mix it into the yoghurt with a pinch of salt and pepper. Chill, giving the garlic time to flavour the yoghurt.
3. Tip the courgette into a clean tea towel, gather it up and twist hard over the sink to squeeze out as much juice as possible. This is the key step: poorly squeezed courgette makes soft waffles that stick. You should be left with about 250 g of very dry courgette.
4. In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs with the milk and 1 tbsp olive oil. Add the flour and baking powder, then whisk just until there are no lumps left: the batter should be thick, like pancake batter.
5. Crumble the feta with your fingertips and finely chop the mint. Fold them into the batter with the squeezed courgette, using a spatula. Season generously with pepper but don't add more salt: the feta and the salt from draining are enough.
6. Preheat the waffle iron for 5 min on a high setting, then grease it with kitchen paper dipped in the teaspoon of oil. Spoon about a sixth of the batter into the centre of each mould (6 waffles in total), spread it slightly towards the edges and close the iron.
7. Cook for 6 to 8 min, without opening the iron for the first 5 min, until steam has almost stopped escaping and the waffles are golden and crisp. Put them on a wire rack, not on a plate where they would go soft, and cook the rest of the batter.
8. Serve the waffles piping hot, 2 per person, with the garlic yoghurt sauce on the side for dipping or drizzling. They're also very good warm, packed in a box with the sauce kept separate.