Mixed Vegetable Fritters

I hardly ever cook deep-fried food but that's not because I don't like it. I'm just reluctant to use too much oil, scared of the hot temperatures and fires and everything. But seeing a recipe for fresh vegetable fritters in an otherwise healthy cookbook must have inspired me, and it's true that if you get the oil temperature hot enough the fritters don't absorb lots of oil. I cooked these in my wok and drained them on what I guess is a draining attachment and they were light and crisp and a great treat.

Ingredients

Selection of seasonal vegetables. (The cookbook also proposes another recipe, herb fritters, using parsley, basil, mint and sage instead of veggies, so feel free to try that too alongside veggies or on their own with a class of something cool as an apero).

The recipe uses 1 fennel bulb, 2 fresh artichokes, 2 small courgettes, a handful of cauliflower florets, as well as 

12 large pitted green olives and 

115g / 4 oz drained fresh mozzarella, cut into 2.5cm / 1 in dice. 

(I had no artichokes or mozzarella this time but did have eggplant so used that as well as the other veggies).

Olive oil (or if not, canola oil) for frying

salt, to taste

Lemon wedges or a sauce of your choice (homemade aioli could be a nice treat) 

Leafy herbs to garnish (optional)

Beer Batter

2 eggs, separated

2 Tbsp olive oil

175ml / 6 fl oz beer

115 g / 4 oz flour

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Method

First, start batter preparation: Beat egg yolks, then slowly add the oil, beer, and flour. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and set aside for one hour (I only set aside for a short time and it still worked fine. I had used quite a yeasty Belgian beer, not sure if that helped). Right before using, whisk egg whites and fold into batter.

While batter (minus eggwhite) is resting, prepare veggies:

Cut fennel into thin wedges. Cut artichokes into 8 wedges. Cut courgettes in half crosswise then lengthwise again into quarters.

Lightly cook separately in salted boiling water (or steam in rice cooker like I did) the fennel, artichokes, and cauliflower. Cook until just al dente. Drain well on clean dish towels. - Eggplants, which I used also, absorb a lot of water and frying is best when ingredients are drier.

Pour the oil into a large frying pan or wok to a depth of at least 1cm ½ inch (or fill pan ⅓ full if you have enough oil - afterwards the cooled oil can be filtered and stored in a jar for reusing later for more deep frying adventures). Heat oil until hot but not smoking.

Meanwhile, dip a few of the veggies, mozzarella cubes and olives into the batter, letting the excess drain off. Transfer to the hot oil and fry until golden brown on all sides (turn with long handled tongs or use a strainer). Remove fritters with a slotted spoon or strainer, letting the excess oil drain back into the pan. Transfer to paper towel to drain. I kept mine warm as I continued cooking by placing them on a paper towel lined tray in the oven. I was a bit shocked how much oil was absorbed by paper towels even after initial draining! Just as well deep-fried food is just a 'sometimes' treat for me.

Continue frying the fritters in batches, transferring to paper towels to drain.

Arrange fritters on a clean plate and garnish with lemon wedges and, if desired, fresh leafy herbs.

Moroccan Cooked Carrot Salad

Serves 4 (photo shows only a small amount of what it makes)

This is my attempt* to recreate a nice salad I bought from a Moroccan vendor at the market. He is lovely and makes lots of nice salads but they are sold in plastic containers. I had people over the other day so bought a swag of his salads and have kept the plastic containers to store leftovers in. Photo shows leftovers of the salad I made based on his. It's nice and lemony/vinegary. When I have time, I'll ask if he offers cooking lessons, but for the meantime, here's this one I thought I could do, made with delicious organic carrots from another farmers' market vendor.
*using a mix of a couple of recipes online with a couple of my own variations

INGREDIENTS
8-12 carrots, peeled/well scrubbed and thinly sliced
2 large garlic cloves
3 to 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (to taste)
Salt to taste
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 tsp. ground cumin (or, better: 1 tsp. cumin seeds, lightly toasted and ground)
1⁄4 tsp. paprika
3 pinches cayenne
2 pinches ground cinnamon
2 to 3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice (to taste)
1-2 Tbsp. cider vinegar (to taste)
¼ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley (I used coriander instead and it was nice too)

FOR THE GARNISH (optional)
black olives
2 hard boiled eggs, cut in wedges


PREPARATION
Place the carrots and whole garlic cloves in a steamer above 1 inch of boiling water, cover and steam 5 to 8 minutes, until tender. Remove from the heat, rinse with cold water, and drain on paper towels. I actually used my 'multicooker' with a tiny amount of water and didn't need to drain them.
Mix through with the rest of the ingredients. Taste and adjust salt and lemon juice and vinegar as desired. Transfer to a platter, and decorate with olives and hard-boiled eggs if desired. Serve at room temperature.

Tip
Advance preparation: You can make this several hours before serving. The dish, without the lemon juice/vinegar and parsley, will keep for a couple of days in the refrigerator. Reheat gently on top of the stove and add the lemon juice and parsley.

Ye Olde Porridge Cake

November and still pretty warm here (like 20 + degrees!) but some cool foggy mornings beg a nice bowl of porridge. Our toddler won't touch it though so I had leftover porridge today and as I was in a cake-making mood anyhow, wondered 'is there such a thing as a porridge cake?'. Of course there was. So here's the first search result that came up. I reduced the amount of sugar a bit as I just couldn't bring myself to add that much, and our eggs were small so I used an extra one and the texture was still fine - a crunchy caramelised top and a moist crumb inside. - My cake had an odd shape as I used scrunched baking paper (in a hurry) instead of greasing the tin.
I decided just to make the plain cake to start with to get a feel for it and would like to try some variations in the future with coconut etc - perhaps even a healthier version. This one was very nice though, and the toddler was delighted! 

Leftover Porridge Cake

 by  jrdnjlly on BBC GoodFood

Ingredients
1/2 cup Butter
2 cups Sugar
2 whole Eggs
2 cups Cooked Porridge
1 1/4 cup Flour
2 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
2-3 tsp Cinnamon
Optional Additions: Shredded Coconut, Chopped Nuts, Diced Apple.

Method
Preheat oven to 180C/fan
Cream together the butter and sugar. Stir in the eggs and porridge. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon (and any other extras e.g. nuts). Add to creamed mixture and mix well.
Pour into greased and floured 6cm x 26cm cake tin. Bake for 35 minutes or until it tests done.

Extra: Top with either cream cheese icing, or a caramel glaze with chopped nuts and coconut, if desired.