Courgette fritti with goat’s cheese and truffle honey recipe
I got the inspiration for these from one of my favourite restaurants in London called Salt Yard, which serves Spanish and Italian style tapas.
I just love the combination of lightly battered crisp courgette dipped in creamy goat’s cheese and generously drizzled in honey flavoured with truffle oil. I’m pretty sure you’ll love them too.
This recipe is from Jo Pratt's new cookbook, The Flexible Vegetarian, published by Frances Lincoln.
Ingredients
- 150 g plain flour
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 200 ml water
- 150 g soft goat's cheese
- 50 g cream cheese
- 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp runny honey
- 2 tsp truffle oil
- 2 egg whites
- 4 medium courgettes
- 600 ml sunflower oil, for deep frying
- 1 pinch flaked sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Details
- Cuisine: Italian
- Recipe Type: Starter
- Difficulty: Medium
- Preparation Time: 10 mins
- Cooking Time: 30 mins
- Serves: 4
Step-by-step
- Put the flour in a mixing bowl and pour in 2 tablespoons of olive oil plus a pinch of salt. Whisk in the water until you have a batter the consistency of double cream. Cover and sit in the fridge to rest while you prepare everything else.
- Beat together the goat’s cheese, cream cheese, thyme leaves and 1 tablespoon of olive oil with an electric whisk until light and airy. Add a pinch of salt if needed and keep chilled until you are ready to serve.
- To make the truffle honey, simply mix together the honey and truffle oil. Have a taste, adding more oil if you prefer a stronger truffle flavour.
- Cut the courgettes into 1cm/½ inch thick slices or chip shapes.
- Whisk the egg whites until they are starting to hold their shape, then fold into the rested batter mix.
- Heat a pan or a deep fat fryer no more than one-third full of oil to 180ºC/350ºF. If you don’t have a thermometer, you’ll know it’s hot enough when a small piece of bread dropped in becomes golden in 30 seconds.
- Working in batches, dip the courgette pieces into the batter, allowing the excess to drip back into the bowl, then fry in the hot oil for 2–3 minutes until lightly golden.
- Drain on kitchen paper before dividing between plates. Add a spoon of the whipped goat’s cheese and finish with a generous drizzle of the truffle honey and a twist of black pepper.
Recipe from The Flexible Vegetarian by Jo Pratt, photography by Susan Bell. Published by Frances Lincoln.
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