Vegetarian mains
Courgette & sheep’s cheese fritters with tomato & bean salsa
These fritters are easy to make, with a good herby dill flavour, and the salsa adds a nice kick to the dish. We’ve used Wootton White cheese, which is a British equivalent of feta, but you can use either. Serve alongside rice, couscous or quinoa; we went for wild rice.
Cook's notes
To test the strength of your chilli before deciding how much to add to a dish, take the tiniest bite from the pointed end first. It’s the mildest bit, but will give you an indication of what’s to come! Add as much or as little as you like to the salsa.
Ingredients
For the salsa
- 200g tinned cannellini beans
- 3 tomatoes
- 1 chilli
- ½ red onion
- 15g chervil
- olive oil
- 1 lemon
For the fritters
- 2 courgettes
- 1 garlic clove
- 15g dill
- 1 egg
- 50g self-raising flour
- 75g sheep's cheese, or feta
- oil for frying e.g. sunflower or light olive
Method
For the salsa
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Step 1
Drain the tin of cannellini beans. Put half in a bowl (save the rest for use in other meals). Dice the tomatoes. Deseed and finely chop the chilli. Peel and finely chop half the onion. Finely chop the bulk of chervil leaves and stalks.
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Step 2
Add the tomatoes, chilli (to your taste for heat), onion and chervil to the beans with a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice to taste. Season and leave to one side.
For the fritters
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Step 1
Coarsely grate the courgettes. Line a colander with a clean tea towel. Put the grated courgette in the towel. Fold up the sides, then squeeze several times to wring out as much liquid as you can.
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Step 2
Peel and finely chop 1 garlic clove. Finely chop the dill leaves.
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Step 3
Beat the egg in a large bowl. Add the courgette and flour. Mix together. Crumble in the Wootton cheese. Add the garlic and dill. Season and mix together.
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Step 4
Put your oven on to 140˚C/ Gas 2). Heat a thin layer of oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. In batches, spoon dollops of the batter (approx. 2 tbsp worth) into the pan, flattening them slightly. Cook for 3-4 mins on each side, until golden. Drain on kitchen paper if you have any, pop them onto a plate and keep them warm in the oven while you cook the rest.
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Step 5
Drain the rice when just tender (wild rice is harder than normal rice, so will still have quite a bite to it).
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Step 6
Serve the fritters with the salsa and your side of choice.