Basil & lemon cauliflower & sweetcorn fritters
If you have bought a bunch of basil and have plenty left over, Elly Curshen has some great uses for it.
- Serves4
- CourseBrunch
- Prepare15 mins
- Cook20 mins
- Total time35 mins
- Pluschilling
Ingredients
- 1 small cauliflower, sliced to give approx 300g florets (or use frozen)
- 100g frozen or canned sweetcorn
- 140g plain flour
- 1 tsp sea salt flakes
- ½ onion, finely diced
- 2 British Blacktail Free Range Medium Eggs, beaten
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 unwaxed lemon, finely grated zest and juice
- ½ x 25g pack basil, leaves
- Vegetable oil, for frying
- Poached eggs, to serve (optional)
- Cherry vine tomatoes, to serve (optional)
Method
Steam the cauliflower and sweetcorn for 10 minutes, or until tender. Reserve the cooking water. Place the cooked vegetables into a large mixing bowl. Using a fork or a potato masher, roughly mash the cauliflower, leaving some chunks, keeping the corn whole.
Add the flour, salt, onion, eggs, baking powder, lemon zest and juice, then season. Add the basil leaves, ripping large ones in ½ and leaving smaller leaves whole. Reserve some small leaves. Loosen with 4 tbsp of the cooking water – the mixture should be quite wet and drop from a spoon easily. Cover and chill for 10 minutes.
Pour 0.5cm depth of oil into a large frying pan. Set over a high heat until the oil is shimmering. Take 1 large heaped tbsp of mixture and place into the hot oil, slightly flattening the batter down with the spoon as you do. Repeat until you have 3-4 fritters in the pan. Do not crowd it. Fry for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown, turning carefully with a fish slice. Make sure the oil is hot enough before cooking subsequent batches, or you’ll end up with greasy fritters.
Remove and place on a plate lined with kitchen paper to soak up any excess oil while you cook the remaining mixture to make 12 fritters. Serve hot, garnished with the reserved basil leaves and the poached eggs and roasted cherry tomatoes, if liked.
Cook’s tip
Pesto pastry twists
Find a pesto alla Genovese recipe at waitrose.com. You can make a small batch with as little as 25g basil. Spread it over a sheet of puff pastry, cut the pastry into long strips and twist, then bake in a hot oven until golden and crisp. Great with drinks or alongside a mozzarella and tomato salad.
Basil & lemon garlic bread
The next time you make garlic bread, give it a boost by adding finely chopped basil, grated parmesan and lemon zest to the garlic butter.
No-cook pizza sauce
Crush canned plum tomatoes (I like the Waitrose Duchy Organic ones for this) using a masher or fork. Season with salt, a generous shake of dried oregano and some chopped leftover basil leaves. Mix well, then your pizza sauce is ready to use or freeze for later.
Nutritional
Typical values per serving when made using specific products in recipe
Energy | 1,276kJ/ 305kcals |
|---|---|
Fat | 14g |
Saturated Fat | 2.1g |
Carbohydrates | 33g |
Sugars | 5.6g |
Fibre | 3.5g |
Protein | 10g |
Salt | 1.7g |