I have a little bit of a crush on Jamie Oliver, the famed British chef. He just seems so fun and would be a great guy to hang out with, so you can imagine my excitement to see him on American TV doing his 15 minute meals this weekend.
Well, let me sideline this for me minute. I am of course very excited to see Mr. Oliver but this was also the opening weekend for Captain America so before watching Jamie, I watched the first Avenger movie, Captain America again as I was going to see the new movie later that day. It is FANTASTIC and Chris Evans is really not bad on the eyes!!! It was quite a weekend for me!
Back to Jamie. I watched him making a quick and rather delicious looking meal for Ricotta Fritters and Zucchini salad and thought… I can do that!
Ricotta Fritters in Tomato Sauce
After looking up the recipes and taxing my brain with trying to change the English measurement system to American, I picked up a few items with a few adjustments and alternative ingredients and made a dinner for myself and my friend, Kathleen, which surprised us both at how truly excellent it was. I will continue to make some adjustments but this is definitely on my quick dish menu for the future.
RICOTTA FRITTERS IN TOMATO SAUCE WITH ZUCCHINI SALAD
Serves 4
Prep/cook time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
For the sauce
½oz dried Portobello mushrooms
1 garlic clove minced
1 can pizza base sauce, I find Pastene one of the best
1 cup black olives, sliced
½ a bunch of fresh basil
For the fritters
1 large egg
14oz ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon dried nutmeg
Grated zest of 1 lemon
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
1 large tablespoon flour
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
For the salad
2 large firm green or yellow baby zucchini
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon of red chili flakes
½ a bunch of fresh mint
1 lemon
Direction
Place the porcini mushrooms into a mug and cover with boiling water.
Add one tablespoon of olive oil into skillet with the minced garlic over a medium heat. Cook until softened. Coarsely chop and add the Portobello with half their soaking water and the pizza sauce, season with salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Add in the olives and half the mint leaves (torn) and simmer.
Break the egg into a mixing bowl; add the ricotta, the nutmeg, the lemon zest and Parmesan and flour, then beat together.
Pour one tablespoon of olive oil into another skillet, then use a tablespoon to spoon in 8 large dollops of the mixture, turning carefully when nice and golden. This part is not easy, even if Jamie states that you need to do it carefully. I broke so many of them trying to turn each fritter over. I think this may be because I used fat free ricotta. This is one thing I will change next time.
Grate the zucchini into a bowl with salt and pepper, the juice of the zested lemon and the extra virgin olive oil. Add the chili and the top leafy half of the mint, and then toss together.
Place the fritters on top of the sauce, then scatter over the reserved basil leaves, drizzle with balsamic and serve with lemon wedges.
Loving the sharp tang of the lemon on the Zucchini Salad
Apart from trying to turn the fritters, this is an absolutely fantastic meal, which we both had a second plate of. The sauce in particular is ridiculously good.
Thanks Mr. Oliver!
Oh and did I say it tastes even better with Prosecco? Well, yes it does!
