I am known as creator or should I say I tend to wing it at every available opportunity. With this in mind I was in the depths of my large fridge and fancied something to accompany a light salad. Stir well and add the chopped mint. Add tbsp. Northern & Central Italian Family Cooking…. A moreish antipasto that makes use of new-season courgettes fried in crisp batter – they’ll vanish as quickly as you can make them. If the mixture is still a little wet, add the remaining flour and mix. Add the grated courgette into a large bowl. The key is in giving the batter time to chill in the fridge before you pan-fry them – just twenty minutes. Copyright 2019 Carmela's Kitchen | Designed by, ‘Northern & Central Italian Family Cooking’, Spinach spätzle sparrows with a taleggio drizzle. Alternatively, use lard or, at a push, peanut oil. As someone once told me, frying is all about the manoeuvres. Olive oil can also be filtered and used again. But these fritters aren’t just crispy; these fritters also have a tender and light and creamy interior that makes them pretty much irresistible. Ingredients – Courgette, lemon and ricotta fritters 2 medium courgettes, grated 1 lemon, zest 250g ricotta Salt & pepper, to season 1 tsp. Cauliflower fritters – From the lockdown larder. 1 small bunch scallions, white and light green part, coarsely chopped In a large bowl, combine the zucchini (cut into sticks), ricotta, egg, lemon zest and 1 … Grate zucchinis and remove excess liquid by squeezing the zucchini in small sections with your hands. The suggestion you can’t fry in olive oil is a silly one: rich in monounsaturated fats, which are highly resistant to heat, olive oil is one of the healthiest fats on the planet – ideal for frying and deep flavour. Watch too, that it doesn’t get too hot, smoke or burn. I was almost as captivated by my favourite detective’s meals as his investigations in La Forma Dell’Acqua, but also by the way Sicily springs to life in the novel, as it does in all of the late, great Andrea Camilleri’s books – especially the beauty and squalor of the south coast, on which I now lie reading, in a “sun blazing enough to shatter rocks”. Serve as a side, with a salad or my favourite way would be squashed in between two sliced of rustic bread with roasted betters and rocket. This gives the panko time to absorb some of the liquid in the batter and plump up. For the sake of this column, it would have been convenient if Inspector Montalbano had eaten courgettes in some shape or form while investigating the death of engineer Silvio Luparello in The Shape of Water. Spoon in 3 tbsp. Once they are golden, lift on to a plate lined with kitchen towel, blot, transfer to a serving plate, sprinkle with salt and serve with lemon wedges. The best of three recipes, these fritters have just enough batter to hold together a soft courgette and ricotta heart, while the shaggy outsides, with bits of courgette sticking out like unruly hairs, are properly crisp. Egg and panko breadcrumbs work with the ricotta to act as a binder. If not, add the remaining breadcrumbs. We’re probably not the only ones who think so, but there’s something so fun about fritters. No courgettes, but Salvo Montalbano does eat fresh striped mullet, fried to a delicate crisp and drained on absorbent paper. If it is very sloppy, add more chickpea flour, but be careful not to make it stiff. Wrap grated zucchini in a clean kitchen towel or paper towels and squeeze out excess liquid over the sink. Use a slotted spoon to nudge and turn them to make sure they fry evenly. With the help of a couple of average sized limp courgettes and a partially battered lemon I decided to make a small batch of ‘Courgette, lemon and ricotta fritters’. Nothing fancy or time consuming, just delicious. I just love to open the fridge and say either mushroom risotto for dinner tonight or pea, pancetta and chilli pasta or likewise. Add drained ricotta, egg, lemon zest, thyme, salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Place in a large bowl and combine with ricotta cheese, breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, garlic, whisked egg, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Add the lemon zest, ricotta, salt, pepper, oregano and chilli. Set patties on paper towels to cool and drain, and serve hot. Add the flour, baking powder, cumin, egg, garlic, ricotta, dill, chilli flakes and lemon zest. Add more oil as needed. They’re delicious served with some sour cream or a little squeeze of lemon! I have never been particularly bothered by the smell of frying, taking the fan-on, kitchen-door-open, shower-cap-on approach. Stir well and add the chopped mint. Rachel Roddy’s courgette and ricotta fritters. They could also be served as part of a meal, with tomato and salted ricotta salad maybe, or caponata, or even boiled potatoes with sweet red onion and capers. amounts of the mixture into the oil and fry until lightly golden on each side. Ads are what helps us bring you premium content – thank you! In a large bowl, whisk the chickpea flour with the water until you have a paste. The result is a light fritter that tastes creamy, but not too rich. I never throw anything away and am a very keen frugal cook. Even though I surround myself with food daily, I never menu plan for my family. Please support this website by adding us to the whitelist in your ad blocker. Add the ricotta, parmesan, herbs and the grated courgette, and stir. But it must be hot enough – 180C or 350F (or when a cube of bread dances energetically round the pan), at which point the heat seals the food, meaning less fat is absorbed. Using tablespoon, drop blobs of mixture into the hot oil – don’t overcrowd the pan though. Mix the recipe around to suit you, using a variety of different herbs and even by replacing the ricotta with crumbled feta cheese. You want to make sure that you remove them to a paper towel as soon as they’re done cooking to absorb any excess oil and keep them from becoming soggy. Remove them from the pan and place onto kitchen towel to remove excess oil. Add the lemon zest, ricotta, salt, pepper, oregano and chilli. or the sake of this column, it would have been convenient if. A little bit of lemon zest and thyme play nicely with the zucchini for a really great balance of flavor. dried oregano, marjoram or thyme Sprinkle of dried chilli 10 mint leaves, chopped 3 – 4 tbsp. This will be blatantly obvious, but just pull the pan from the heat for a while. Olive oil does have an imposing flavour, which is not to everyone’s taste. Gather the ends of the tea-towel and twist hard over a bowl to catch the excess water squeezed from the courgettes. Add 1/2 cup of the breadcrumbs and mix until incorporated. 10 fritters. Wash and trim both ends of the courgettes. Deep-frying always seems to provoke discussion – the smell and the faff of it, the best sort of oil (and the expense of that), the best pan to do it in. It’s a nice change in routine to get your veggies in in one little crispy and flavorful package. He doesn’t. In a large bowl, whisk the chickpea flour with the water until you have a paste. Throughout the summer months and when available I also add chopped courgettes flowers to the mix for a little colour and diversity. The mixture should be soft but also hold its shape on a spoon. The squashed and blemished tomatoes would be added into a stock, the slightly worse for wear brown tipped broccoli would go into a flavourful soup and the copious number of over purchased cucumbers for the children’s packed lunch boxes, would be braised with a little oil, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Which is exactly what you want to do with today’s recipe, which is only Sicilian insofar as I made them here – courgettes from the stall at the end of the corso, ricotta from the supermarket deli counter – the coolest place in Gela at 10am on a Tuesday. of flour and stir to incorporate. If the mixture is still a little wet, add the remaining flour and mix. This week’s recipe is a collision of three others, borrowing aspects from each. Enjoy. and drained on absorbent paper. 500g courgettes150g chickpea flour100ml water150g ricotta2 tbsp grated parmesan2 tbsp chopped basil, mint or parsleySalt and black pepperLemon wedges, to serve. 01 Squeeze the grated courgettes to remove the excess water, then tip into a bowl. You do want to make sure you take the time to drain the ricotta and wring out the excess moisture from the zucchini so that the fritters don’t become soggy instead.