Tag: sour cream

Yotam Ottolenghi’s Leek Fritters

.Reading time 4 minutes.

Serves: 4

Before diving into this quite excellent recipe, it has been a few months since my last post.

It is not that we haven’t been cooking and eating well, though, since my last post, Nat and I have welcomed a little baby girl to the family: Avalon.

I can’t blame sleepless nights. Avalon has been an absolute dream and has slept from 7pm to 7am since she was nine weeks old. Though with Christmas, a few trips thrown in and all the rest of the craziness, typing up recipes has taken a back seat.

I have a real backlog of recipes to get through, though now have the joy of typing, looking at the most beautiful sister to Max, Tom and Oliver. This recipe is for Avalon.

I can’t wait to cook with her in the kitchen.

And now to these fritters.

They are superb.

Chosen and cooked by Nat as part of a bigger Yotam feast, they are so tasty and so soft. Add the sauce and serve alongside this Yotam Ottolenghi Char-grilled Asparagus, and you’ve got an absolutely wonderful weekend meal on your hands.

Ingredients

3 leeks (450gm in total, trimmed weight)
5 shallots, finely chopped
150ml olive oil
1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and sliced
25gm parsley (leaves and fine stalks), finely chopped
3/4 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 free-range egg white
120gm self-raising flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 egg
150ml milk
55gm unsalted butter, melted

Sauce*

100gm Greek yoghurt
100gm sour cream
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
20gm parsley leaves, chopped
30gm coriander leaves, chopped

Method

  1. Start by making the sauce. Blitz all the ingredients together in a food processor until a uniform green. Set aside for later.
  2. Cut the leeks into 2cm thick slices; rinse and drain dry. Sauté the leeks and shallots in a pan with half the oil on medium heat for about 15 minutes, or until soft. Transfer to a large bowl and add chilli, parsley, spices, sugar and salt. Allow to cool down.
  3. Whisk the egg white to soft peaks and fold it into the vegetables. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, whole egg, milk and butter to form a batter. Gently mix it into the egg white and vegetable mixture.
  4. Put 2 tbsp of the remaining oil in a large frying pan and place over medium heat. Spoon about half of the vegetable mixture into the pan to make four large fritters. Fry them for 2 – 3 minutes on each side, or until golden crisp. Remove to kitchen paper and keep warm. Continue making the fritters, adding more oil as needed. You should end up with about eight large fritters. Serve warm, with the sauce on the side or drizzled over.

* Substitute a squeeze of lemon or lime juice if you just don’t have the time for the sauce.

Jesse Szewczyk’s Green Salad With Sour Cream and Onion Dressing

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4 – 6

I always say it, though I just love finding a new dressing that nails it.

And here you have another.

I substituted crème fraîche as I had it on hand, though no change is needed here. It is just a wonderful dressing and one worth bookmarking.

Ingredients

1/2 c sour cream
2 tbsp sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
1 tbsp onion powder
2 tsp honey
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 garlic clove, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 c finely chopped chives, plus more for serving
10 loosely packed cups torn or chopped lettuce such as butter lettuce or romaine hearts

Method

  1. Make the dressing: in a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and a good pinch of both salt and pepper. Whisk until the mixture is completely smooth. Stir in the chives.
  2. Toss through with your leaves, season and serve with additional chive battons sprinkled on-top.

Vodka-cured Gravlax Canapés

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Yields: 10

Nat and I recently married.

That old thing…

We had a long lunch with our best friends and family. Six courses.

Six courses of incredible food in the tradition of both of us loving long lunches, great food and amazing wine.

The first course was named ‘Soup and Sandwich’.

The soup was the famous Banc Sweet Corn and Basil amuse bouche, served cold in a shot glass. We chose this soup because we have been making it as a starter for years and warm or cold, it is just wonderful.

Sandwiches mean even more to us and at one stage, we really were flirting with opening a gourmet sandwich shop.

We did this vodka-cured gravlax, served on a toasted baguette and it was awesome.

Here is the ‘Soup and Sandwich’ course as a test we did a few weeks before our long lunch; the baguette was a bit big and so we made it smaller for the main event:

As a starter to any dinner party, you could do a lot worse…

Everything can be prepped the night before and the salmon only takes a night to cure.

Slice the salmon, toast the baguette and serve:

People will think you’re a genius. (Especially if it the first of many courses!)

Ingredients

1 tbsp sea salt
1 tsp finely ground pepper
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp vodka
300gm salmon fillet, skin on
1/3 cup sour cream
2 tsp baby capers, rinsed
2 tsp lemon juice
1 qtr preserved lemon, finely diced
Chopped chives
1 shallot, minced
Baguette
Olive oil spray

Method

  1. Remove the pin bones from the salmon and place it skin down on plastic wrap.
  2. Combine the salt, pepper, sugar and vodka, spread over the fish, wrap tightly and refrigerate overnight, turning from time-to-time.
  3. Remove the skin from the salmon and slice very thinly.
  4. Combine sour cream, capers, lemon juice, preserved lemon, chives and shallots. Set aside.
  5. Heat oven to 180c. Thinly slice the baguette, spray with olive oil spray and toast until lightly golden. Allow to cool.
  6. Spread a small amount of the sour cream mixture on the baguette slices. Arrange salmon on the toasts, top with more. Of the sour cream mixture and a sliver of chives.