Ricotta fritters with tomato sauce & courgette salad

Ricotta fritters with tomato sauce & courgette salad

This tasty dish went down a treat when my son’s vegetarian girlfriend came to stay and it was also enjoyed by the rest of my carnivorous family. The recipe is taken from Jamie Oliver’s 15 Minute Meals and I would definitely cook it again.  The ricotta fritters were light and delicate and worked well when combined with the spicy tomato sauce and courgette salad. It is relatively easy to make as long as you do not disturb the fritters too much whilst they are cooking. A lovely little supper dish for a summers evening, although I dare say it would be well received whatever the time of year it is.

Ricotta fritters with tomato sauce and courgette salad

Prep 15 mins – although took me nearly 25mins to prep and cook

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the sauce

• 25 g dried porcini mushrooms
• 4 anchovy fillets
• 1 dried red chilli
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 700g passata
• 8 black olives (stone in)
• ½ a bunch of fresh basil

For the fritters

• 1 large free-range egg
• 400 g ricotta cheese
• 1 whole nutmeg for grating
• 1 lemon
• 40 g Parmesan cheese
• 1 heaped tablespoon plain flour
• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar

For the salad

• 400 g firm green or yellow baby courgettes
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 fresh red chilli
• ½ a bunch of fresh mint
• 1 lemon

Method

1. Cover the porcini with boiling water and leave to soak.

2. In a bow,  mix the ricotta with egg, finely grated 1/4 of nutmeg, lemon zest, parmesan and flour and then beat together.

3.Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a frying pan and then dollop 8 tablespoons of the mixture in to the pan. Turn carefully with a spatula when the bottom is golden and as I mentioned previously try not to move the fritters around too much.
4. Add chilli,  anchovies and garlic to a frying pan with a splash of olive oil. Then add passata and finely chopped porcini with half the soaking water. Season and bring to the boil.

5. Add stoned squashed olives (squashing helps remove the stone) and then add the chopped basil leaves, but don’t forget to keep some to use as garnish later.

6. Using a food processor grate the courgette. Add to a bowl with seasoning, lemon juice and olive oil. Then add finely chopped chilli and some mint from the top half of the bunch. Mix the salad together gently with your hands.

7. Place the fritters in the sauce in a serving dish or if you wish to be more rustic in the pan the sauce was cooked in. Garnish with the rest of the basil leaves, some balsamic and a few lemon wedges on the side.