Fritters, savoury pancakes, dumplings and gnocchi. All good vegetarian options involving egg and cheese and/or flour and a hero ingredient or sauce.
This recipe is for ricotta fritters, with a lovely tomato sauce and a tangy zucchini salad. It’s from Jamie’s 15 Minute Meals, and it’s light and flavourful and healthy! Super easy too!
The lemon zest and the nutmeg in the fritters give them a slightly exotic flavour.
Ingredients
For the sauce
25g dried porcini mushrooms*
4 anchovy fillets
1 dried red chilli
2 cloves of garlic
700g tomato passata
8 black olives
Half a bunch of fresh basil
For the fritters
1 large free-range egg
400g ricotta cheese
1/4 whole nutmeg, for grating
Zest of a lemon
40g Parmesan cheese
1 heaped tablespoon plain flour
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
For the salad
400g zucchini (courgettes)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 fresh red chilli
Half a bunch of fresh mint
Juice of a lemon
Method
Put the porcini into a mug and cover with boiling water. Crack the egg into a mixing bowl, add the ricotta, finely grate in the nutmeg, the lemon zest and Parmesan, add the flour, then beat together. Put 1 tablespoon of olive oil into a frying pan, then use a tablespoon to spoon in 8 large dollops of the mixture, turning carefully when nice and golden.
Put the anchovies and 1 tablespoon of olive oil into a heavy based casserole, crumble in the dried chilli, and squash in the unpeeled garlic through a garlic crusher. Finely chop and add the porcini with half their soaking water and the passata, season with salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Squash and add the olives. Pick and reserve a few basil leaves, then chop the rest and add to the sauce.
Grate the zucchini in a food processor and tip into a bowl with a pinch of salt and pepper, the juice of the zested lemon and the extra virgin olive oil. Finely chop and add the chilli and the top leafy half of the mint, then toss together. Place the fritters on top of the sauce, then scatter over the reserved basil leaves, drizzle with balsamic and serve with lemon wedges.
* I omitted the porcini mushrooms as I don’t particularly like them. I thought the sauce was fine without them!
The Quirk and the Cool 