This weekend, I had a couple of my friends visit for a little get together. It was a great opportunity to have a lovely homemade breakfast before heading out for a busy day of visiting Toronto and catching up. I had been meaning to make zucchini fritters for a while and they ended up being the perfect addition to a poached egg on some toasted olive sourdough bread.

These really are easy to make, and can be whipped up while you toast the bread and wait for your poached eggs to cook. I hope you appreciate the photo as I saved the last four for a quick photo session and they then had to be eaten cold! I’m heading back to Montreal in a few days, after almost four month out of town. Between a job at the BBC in London, visiting my family in Paris and in the South of France and working from Toronto it’s been quite an eventful summer! I’m looking forward to getting back to my kitchen though.. especially since I only had a few days to play around with my new pink Kitchen Aid. Be prepared for many recipes with that baby!

Since the new school year is upon us, I thought I would share the names of a few cookbooks that are coming out this fall. My ever-growing collection (I must have hit 70 by now!) has been missed this summer as I only had room for a couple books to bring with me during my travels. I’m looking forward to browsing these new cookbooks and something tells me that they will make their way to my over-stocked library shelf…

Barefoot Contessa How Easy Is That?: Fabulous Recipes & Easy Tips, to be released on October 26th, 2010. I have yet to try an Ina Garten recipe that wasn’t absolutely fabulous. As most spontaneous and intuitive cooks will recognize, it’s not that easy to write a fail-safe recipe but Ina does just that, every time.

Clinton St. Baking Company Cookbook: Breakfast, Brunch & Beyond from New York’s Favorite Neighborhood Restaurant. This is one of my favourite breakfast spots in NYC and they are now releasing a cookbook. I hope it does not disappoint! To be released on November 8th, 2010.

Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented: If you loved the original Baked book, you should love this one! Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito will give us their take on popular dessert this special twists and tweaks. Release date set for October 1st, 2010.

Tartine Bread: One of my favourite spots in San Francisco is coming out with a second cookbook dedicated to bread. Making bread is really an essential skill for any home baker and I bet these recipes will make it ever more accessible. Release date set for September 29th, 2010.

What new cookbooks are you looking forward to this Fall?

Zucchini Fritters
Makes about 12

1 pound (about 2 medium) zucchini
1 tablespoon of freshly grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons of fresh parsley, stems removed and leaves finely chopped
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons of freshly grated parmesan
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Olive oil

Using the large holes of a box grater, grate the zucchini into a medium bowl, leaving the skin on. Add the lemon zest, chopped parsley, and eggs. Mix well to combine. Add a good pinch of salt and pepper Slowly add flour, stirring so no lumps form. Fold in the parmesan.

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat until oil sizzles when you drop a small amount of zucchini mixture into the pan. Carefully drop about 2 tablespoons zucchini mixture into pan; repeat, spacing fritters a few inches apart.

Cook fritters until golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium. Turn fritters, and continue cooking until golden, 2 to 3 minutes more. Transfer fritters to a plate; set aside in a warm place. Cook remaining zucchini mixture, adding more oil to pan if necessary. Serve warm. Enjoy!