Breakfast
Leek and feta fritters
A very moreish starter or light lunch with a bitter leaf salad. The dip includes sumac, a deep-red, lemony spice used a lot in Middle Eastern cuisine. It’s increasingly available in supermarkets, but if you can’t find it, use a little extra lemon juice and a couple of grinds of pepper instead.
Cook's notes
Variations Add chopped, fried crispy bacon to the batter, or replace the feta with cooked, shredded chicken. Instead of tarragon use dill or mint.
Ingredients
for the fritters
- 3 leeks, washed, trimmed and finely sliced
- 25g butter
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 large eggs
- 50g crème fraîche
- 70g self-raising flour
- 30g gram (chickpea) flour (or just use a total of 100g self-raising flour)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 80g feta, crumbled
- small bunch fresh tarragon, leaves chopped
- cayenne pepper
- sunflower oil, for frying
- salt and pepper
for the dip
- zest and juice of ½ lemon
- 150g crème fraîche
- sumac (or see introduction for alternative)
- lemon wedges, to serve
Method
main
-
Step 1
Preheat oven to 180°C/Gas 4.
Make the fritters
-
Step 1
Lightly fry the leeks in the butter and oil in a frying pan over a medium heat until starting to soften, about 7 minutes.
-
Step 2
Whisk the eggs and crème fraîche until light and starting to increase in volume. Sift in the self-raising flour, gram flour, if using, and baking powder and gently mix into a batter.
-
Step 3
Fold in the leeks, feta and tarragon. Add a pinch of cayenne and some salt and pepper. You should have a consistency that will drop slowly from a spoon. If too dry, add a dash of milk; too wet, add a pinch of flour.
-
Step 4
Pour oil into a frying pan to a depth of about 5mm and heat until a test teaspoonful of batter sizzles immediately. Using a spoon, add three or four separate dollops of batter to the pan. Push each one with the back of the spoon until you have small patties about 8cm across. Cook until golden, about 3–4 minutes on each side.
-
Step 5
Remove the cooked fritters to a baking tray and repeat until you have used up the batter. You may need to heat up fresh oil between batches if it starts to run dry.
-
Step 6
When all are done, place the fritters in the oven for 10–12 minutes to warm through. Meanwhile,
make the dip
-
Step 1
. Mix the lemon zest into the crème fraîche with a pinch of salt and add the lemon juice to taste. Sprinkle liberally with sumac and serve with the lemon wedges.