Though I was leaving it a little late, the last week of March was a good time to tackle the month's calendar recipe. It made good use of a fresh vegetable delivery, especially a big bunch of spinach and some assorted other greens.
We increasingly fall back on fritters to use up vege scraps, but I never think to combine them with ricotta as in this recipe here. I took the trouble to buy the proper stuff from a deli instead of a watery tub from the supermarket (and kept half of it aside for an upcoming recipe). I wasn't sure that it'd matter, all mixed up with flour and spinach and sun-dried tomatoes, but the quality ricotta really shone through. Not only did I eat the fritters bare of chutney, but I left the side salad undressed and wasn't left wanting for flavour or richness.
Semi-dried tomato, spinach & ricotta fritters
(the source recipe appears online at Australian Healthy Food)
175g spinach, washed and trimmed
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
125g ricotta
1/2 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/8 cup semi-dried tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup basil, washed and chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
spray oil
2 cups mixed green leaves
handful of grape tomatoes
Bring a large pot of water to the boil and blanch the spinach for 30 seconds. Drain it and refresh with cool water. Squeeze out as much water as you can and finely chop the spinach.
In a medium-large bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs and ricotta. Stir in the flour and baking powder until well mixed. Fold in the spinach, semi-dried tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper.
Bring a frypan to medium-high heat and spray it with oil. Spoon about one-sixth of the batter at a time into the frypan, smoothing it out a little. Allow the fritters to cook for a few minutes on each side, until golden and cooked through.
Serve three fritters per person with mixed greens and grape tomatoes on the side.
I am guilty of buying supermarket ricotta - thanks for the reminder I should go to the deli - I love these sort of fritters for a quick meal that uses up fridge scraps
ReplyDeleteHi Johanna - yes, it's a little extra effort to stop by the deli but I was surprised that it wasn't extra expense! The ricotta needed for the above recipe cost me less than $2.
DeleteOoh, this sounds like the perfect way to use all the homemade semi-dried tomatoes my mum has been madly producing recently! (She got herself a dehydrator, it's a dried fruit and vegie festival at home at the moment.)
ReplyDeleteHayley - you could certainly do worse... with semi-dried tomatoes, anyway. I'm sure there's all sorts of other ways to enjoy your newfound dehydrated bounty.
DeletePretty sure buying fresh ricotta is usually cheaper too, even just from the supermarket deli counter. I have to buy some ricotta for a sweet recipe on the weekend so I might buy extra and try these.
ReplyDeleteKatya - I think you're right! As I was commenting to Johanna above, the ricotta for this cost less than $2 and that from a deli I usually think of as rather expensive.
DeleteOoh I love veggie fritters and those look fantastic! We've just started getting organic veggie box deliveries and I'm a bit overwhelmed by the amount of vegetables we've received! I think I'll be making a few fritters this week! :)
ReplyDeleteSarah - I hope you have fun with your deliveries! We just get one fortnightly so that we've got a bit of wiggle room for eating out and specially-picked recipes.
DeleteI like dried tomatoes, never tried with spinach....
ReplyDeleteElena - they're a nice combination!
DeleteOh you really must try making your own ricotta! It's so easy!! There's heaps of info online on how to do it. It's SOOOOOO worth it - MUCH better than anything you can buy :) I've never used ricotta in fritters though! These look great!!
ReplyDeleteHi Lisa! We haven't made our own ricotta before but I imagine it's a bit like making paneer, right? 'Cause we've tried that and it was awesome. :-)
Delete