VEGETARIAN FOOD BLOG: SPINACH, RICOTTA AND RICE FRITTERS

Before we go any further with this fritter and patty party, an explanation of what defines each is useful.

Fritter mixture is wet. Sloppy. You can't use your hands to form balls with fritter batter. Imagine a very thick pancake batter, with vegetables and stuff bulking it out.

Patty mixture can still be quite moist. But importantly, you can use wet hands to form large round balls. You place them on a large plate, flatten them slightly, and place in fridge or freezer to firm-up before frying. Being cold keeps the patty in one piece when you fry it, especially when you flip it.

If you've only just stumbled across Billie Bites, here's some background: Billie grew a little fussy. On return from holiday we embarked on a fritter and patty frenzy. Suddenly, vegetables are back in her diet.

She loves cooking, and fritters and patties are perfect toddler fodder. Yes it does involve hot oil, so here's where I insert a disclaimer. However, Billie is very clear that pans on the stove are hot. We've never had any problems or any near-misses. I do of course watch her at all times around hot oil. Hey, those master chef kids had to start somewhere.

This is from the fritter camp. Next up, we'll demonstrate the difference with a patty recipe.

These numbers were a HUGE hit. Billie ate plate-loads. And she was a fabulous sous chef.

SPINACH, RICOTTA AND RICE FRITTERS


2/3 cup brown rice (makes 1 1/4 cooked rice, and can be prepared ahead)
Large bunch of English spinach 
1/2 cup grated cheddar
600g fresh ricotta (if at all possible, use the really fresh, firm stuff)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
freshly ground black pepper
just a little bit of salt
freshly grated nutmeg, or 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
handful fresh oregano (or basil, parsley if oregano not around)


Place rice in small pot with double the amount of cold water. Bring to boil with lid on, then turn right down to low and simmer with lid on until water absorbed. Don't stir, just lift lid occasionally and it will be obvious when water almost gone. Turn off and leave lid on for few minutes. Remove rice from pot and place in large bowl to cool.


Meanwhile, pick spinach leaves and wash. Drain, leaving a little water on the leaves. Place in large pot with lid, on medium heat. After a minute shake pot. After another minute lift lid and give quick stir. When just wilted, remove and chop spinach.


Add salt and pepper, nutmeg, spinach, cheddar and herbs to rice. Next add eggs, then ricotta. 


Heat a large heavy fry pan on medium with couple of spoons of oil - olive, rice bran or coconut are best. Once hot, turn down to low and dollop tablespoons of mixture into pan. The smaller the fritters, the quicker to cook. But if they are larger they will soak up a bit less oil. So depending on your priorities...With this recipe I found smaller to be better as the mixture is a slow cooker. 


Flipping rules: Avoid multiple flips. This encourages breakage. Instead gently try the edges with your flipper, and if it comes away easily and does not look about to break into pieces, your fritter is ready to be turned. Flip when solid. Patience is a virtue with these fritters, they don't like to be rushed.


Place on a large plate lined with newspaper to soak up any excess oil and serve as are. No sauce or chutney needed. (Yes, newspaper really works just as well as paper towels. But if you don't have newspaper lying around your kitchen because you read everything online, you may have to go out and buy paper towels.)


Where's the picture? Billie scoffed them all before I could reach for the camera.

SALAD FOR ALL with PUY LENTILS, PUMPKIN AND RICOTTA

When a Melbourne friend announced she was in town and popping in for lunch with her 7.5 month-old baby, I knew it was time to really test out the Billie Bites philosophy.

Could I come up with a dish that would inspire and nourish two adults, a toddler and a baby newish to solids?

BINGO. Mission accomplished. And while this is similar to other salads listed here, it's different enough to warrant fulfilling my guest's request for the recipe.

Oscar hadn't had lentils or ricotta before, but he happily consumed a fair serving of the two, mashed with some roasted pumpkin. I chose ricotta because it doesn't have any added salt - good for babies under one year.

Billie chose on this occasion to pick out the lumps of fresh ricotta. But we know she normally devours anything from the pulse/bean family. Pumpkin these days goes down if it's mixed in with other stuff, or is the only thing on offer.

And Emily and I devoured my cherry tomatoes freshly picked from the back-yard.

Here we have a meal for all. Family friendly, vegetarian and gluten-free.

SALAD FOR ALL with PUY LENTILS, PUMPKIN AND RICOTTA

1 cup French puy lentils, rinsed
1/4 pumpkin, skinned and chopped into bite-sized chunks
olive oil
large handful French green beans, topped and tailed and cut in half
handful cherry tomatoes
few slabs of fresh, firm ricotta (avoid the runny stuff in the tub)
1 lime, juiced
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper


Preheat oven to hot. Place lentils in small pot with 3./4 cup water and bring to boil. Turn to low and simmer with lid until water absorbed or just soft - about 20-30 minutes. Place pumpkin on oven roasting tray and rub with olive oil. Roast until soft and crispy around edges. 


Steam beans until just soft. Mix lime, balsamic, olive oil and salt and pepper and stir through drained lentils, beans and tomatoes in a large serving platter dish. Top with pumpkin and slabs of ricotta.


FOR BABIES 6 MONTHS AND UP: Reserve some pumpkin and puree
BABIES 7 MONTHS AND UP: Reserve some lentils and pumpkin and mash or puree with ricotta
BABIES/TODDLERS 1 YEAR AND UP: Serve salad as is - let them pick what they like. It's all good

RICOTTA, CORN AND COURGETTE FRITTERS

TRICK: Fritters re-heat very well in the oven ready to be served as tasty party finger food.
TRICK 2: Fritters offer a great place to hide greens from toddlers who deem them uncool.


Fritters have made appearances in various guises on these pages, even corn fritters. When Billie was a baby I made lots of simple vegetarian fritters. But each time I get in a fritter mood I experiment with texture and substance - to flour or not to flour, to baking powder or not, and so on.

This particular model was a roaring success with Billie but also was very well received at a work do last night to farewell our colleague Ronan. I had pre-party jitters about how the  re-heating would go. But no fear - ten minutes in the oven on a tray left them perfectly light and crispy.

RICOTTA, CORN AND COURGETTE FRITTERS

4 corn cobs, lightly steamed

4 spring onions, finely chopped

3 courgettes/zucchini, grated

1/4 cup fresh coriander/cilantro chopped (optional)

4 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 cups fresh ricotta (preferably the solid, firm kind - but if it's runny just cut back on the milk)

3/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon baking powder

2/3 cup plain flour

generous grindings of salt and black pepper

oil

Allow cobs to cool for a few minutes before removing corn - lay cobs down horizontally on chopping board and use large knife to slice off. This prevents the corn covering your kitchen floor.

Combine corn with spring onions, coriander, courgettes and flour and baking powder. In a smaller bowl combine milk and ricotta with beaten eggs, then pour into the large bowl with rest of fritter ingredients.

Heat about one tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan on medium heat. I used rice bran oil as it heats to high temperatures and doesn't have any flavour, but olive oil works too. Once pan is hot, drop tablespoon lots of batter into pan (don't crowd in pan and keep them small - they cook quicker and look more appetising).

Cook until lightly browned on both sides, flipping once. Keep heat to medium so they cook through without burning. Remove first batch onto plate lined with paper towel, and repeat until mixture used up.

While these re-heat in the oven very well, you can keep the mixture in a sealed container in the fridge for a few days and impress your friends and family with fritters and eggs for brunch, fritters on the side of their chili beans, fritter sandwiches, etc.

And a very Happy Birthday to my father...

UNUSUAL AUBERGINE AND SUGAR-FREE ORANGE AND DATE MUFFINS

I have a thing about aubergine/eggplant that's not crispy. When it's soft and soggy I usually turn up my nose.

So when I saw this recipe involving POACHING the aubergine I was a little suspicious. But as it came firmly recommended by New Zealand chef Julie Le Clerc, via her cousin living in Italy, I decided to keep an open mind.

Not only is this dish delicious, but poaching is in fact a great alternative to oiling and grilling/baking. I would still stick to those crispy slices for certain other recipes, but here poaching is perfect. It's healthier and much quicker too.

The recipe for Lemony Ricotta Eggplant Layers follows below. And good pictures to come but my camera batteries are flat...ughhh.

But first you need to check out my most creative endeavor so far this week: Sugar-free Orange and Date Muffins.

Now you may say 'sugar-free, get away!' and I usually would too. But there's two reasons to pursue sugar-free creations: It makes the muffins a decent healthy lunch or breakfast or snack. Most importantly for us it makes them Billie-biteable. We're doing our best to keep her off processed sugar for as long as possible, and she devoured these. In fact, she displayed some very bad manners by begging like a seagull for others' muffins once she had demolished her own.

I was very pleased with the results here as it was one of those making-it-up-as you-go-along recipes - quite risky when baking.

SUGAR-FREE DATE AND ORANGE MUFFINS

220g self raising flour - 1/2 wholemeal and half white

60g plain flour 

1/4 t baking powder

1/2 cup oil

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 cup milk

3/4 cup dates, chopped

2 oranges

Grease 12 muffin trays with butter. Preheat oven to 200-220c. Sift flours and baking powder into large bowl. Add dates and rind of one orange. In smaller bowl whisk eggs, oil and milk together. Add juice of half of one of the oranges. Peel rest of oranges and chop into smallish pieces. Add to liquid and then gently but swiftly combine with dry ingredients. Divide into muffin tins and bake for about 25 minutes or until browned and cooked through. Turn onto wire rack to cool.

LEMONY RICOTTA EGGPLANT LAYERS

This is from Julie Le Clerc's 'Cafe@home' cookbook.

Poaching the eggplant in water removes its thirst for oil. Another good tip from Julie is to use a serrated knife to cut the aubergine - much easier on the arms.

2 medium or 1 large eggplant/aubergine, sliced into 1cm thick rounds

1 cup ricotta

1 egg, lightly beaten

zest of one lemon

salt and black pepper

2 roasted red peppers/capsicums, thickly sliced

8-12 anchovies (optional - but very good)

Cut peppers into fat strips - quarters - and wipe with oil before placing in oven on tray until well done.

Bring large pot of salted water to boil and poach aubergine slices for 5 minutes or until softened. I found it best to do in several batches, as they float. Place on clean tea towel to dry off. 

Mix ricotta with egg and lemon zest, and season to taste. 

Lightly oil baking dish and layer ingredients to form several individual stacks - about four. Start with aubergine, spoon over little ricotta mix, then cover with red pepper strip and an anchovy. Repeat layers until mixture used up.

Bake at 200c for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with broccoli or other greens.