Green Pea and spinach fritters with preserved lemon and whipped ricotta

Makes 12-14 fritters

Ingredients:

50g thinly sliced leek or spring onions (about 1 medium leek)

1.5 tables. olive oil + more for frying the fritters

120g fresh spinach leaves, washed

250g frozen or fresh peas

1 clove garlic, peeled

15g chopped parsley

6g chopped dill

15g finely minced preserved lemon (about 1 heaped tsp.)

black pepper

salt

75g crumbled feta

3 eggs

70-90g plain flour*

1/4 tsp. baking powder

Whipped ricotta:

200g fresh cows milk ricotta

50ml fresh cream

pinch of salt

Method:

Heat a large nonstick sauté pan over medium heat and add the 1.5 tbls. olive oil. Sauté the leek (or spring onion) with a pinch of salt for about two minutes until it softens. Add in the spinach and let that wilt down for another minute or two. Turn the heat off and add in the frozen peas and leave them to thaw in the residual heat of the pan. Throw that mixture with another generous pinch of salt into a food processor and pulse until the peas are broken down a bit. A few whole peas is fine. (Alternatively, you can chop this up by hand on a chopping board with a large chefs knife) Scoop that mixture out into a mixing bowl and wipe out your sauté pan and return it to the stove until you are ready to fry the fritters. While you go about making the rest of the batter, heat your oven to a very low temp (approx 100C), this is how you will keep the fritters warm while you are frying them off as you need to fry them in batches.

In the mixing bowl, add in the preserved lemon, microplane the clove of garlic in, add in the black pepper, feta and the herbs and then taste for seasoning. Add in more salt if needed. Next, add in the eggs and mix well. Lastly, add in the flour and the baking powder and set aside. *(I like to fry a small fritter first to tell me if I need to add a pinch more flour or not, start with the 70g and if its difficult to flip, add in the remaining 20g).

Set up an oven safe sheet tray and place a few sheets of paper towel on it, set it aside. Heat your nonstick pan over medium heat again and add enough olive oil to coat the bottom. When the pan is hot, add in heaped spoonfuls of the batter and spread them out to make rounds about 7-8cm in diameter. You can probably only cook 3-4 at a time depending on the size of your pan, they should not be touching. Cook for about 2.5 minutes on one side and then flip and cook the other side for the same amount of time. Then, place them onto the paper towel and place that tray into the oven while you cook another batch. Repeat this process until all the batter is used.

To whip the ricotta, place the ricotta and the cream with a pinch of salt into a food processor and whip for about 10-20 seconds until the mixture looks creamy and almost smooth. Alternatively, do this with a whisk in a mixing bowl by hand, it won’t be as smooth but it will still be delicious. Serve this alongside the fritters with herbs for garnishing and a wedge of lemon.