Courgette, Mozzarella and Basil Fritters

I know, I KNOW, yet ANOTHER recipe for courgette fritters.  But, in my defence, they are so quick and easy to make, tasty and are a solution to the courgette mountain at this time of year.  And, although I don't own any, I imagine kids would love them.  Tonight's variation, which made plenty for 4 people, is as follows.  Grate 2 medium courgettes, sprinkle with salt and leave to drain in a colander.  After 20 minutes or so, scoop up handfuls and squeeze the moisture out.  In the meantime, crack 2 eggs into a bowl, add about 60mls of milk and 2 heaped tablespoons of self-raising flour.  Whisk into a thick batter.  Season with a little salt (not too much, we've salted the courgettes, remember), lots of black pepper and half a teaspoon of dried chilli flakes.  Finely chop a couple of spring onions and add to the batter.  Now drain a ball of mozzarella and chop into little dice.  Add to the batter along with the courgettes, 3 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese and a handful of basil leaves, rolled and cut into shreds.  Mix well, and then drop tablespoons of the batter into a non-stick frying pan with half a centimetre of sunflower or rapeseed oil in.  Fry on each side over a medium heat for a couple of minutes until golden brown and lay out on a parchment lined baking sheet.  You can do this well in advance and reheat in a hot oven for 10 minutes until golden, puffy and sizzling.  Lovely served with tomato sauce or sweet chilli dipping sauce.  Definitely under a fiver.

Char-grilled Aubergine, Tomato and Feta Salad

There are many things that you can make with a plate of griddled aubergines.  You can layer them with minced lamb for a moussaka, or with rich tomato sauce, mozzarella and parmesan for Melanzane Parmigiana, or spread them with miso and grill them for a Japanese feast.  I could go on!  I chose to use a them in a lovely assembly-job salad from Saint Delia, tossing them in a marinade of olive oil, a little Balsamic and lots of chopped fresh basil, then overlapping them on a bed of proper Batavia lettuce with halves of slow-roast tomatoes, and topping them with crumbled feta cheese.  Very nice, served with the roasted carrot hummus made with the left-overs from last night's carrot and chickpea pitta pockets.  Here is Delia's original recipe if you fancy giving it a go - we eschewed the creme fraiche as I thought it was rich enough.  And I didn't have any!

Pasta alla Norma

The divine Giorgio Locatelli has just published a magisterial book on Sicilian cooking, and I have already book-marked about 20 things to cook.  The Sicilians are very influenced by the Moors who once ruled their island, and it is thought that they made pasta well before it was introduced on the mainland.  Pasta alla Norma is one of their most famous dishes, and Giorgio's version is rich with roasted and deep-fried aubergines, masses of olive oil, and a cheese called ricotta salata or salted and semi-hard ricotta.  I have simplified this to cut down the need to deep-fry the aubergine, but it is still delicious and a great veggie pasta dish.  Even given that aubergines aren't that cheap, this will still qualify as an 'under a fiver' dish for 4 - easily halved as well.  Start off by cutting two aubergines into chunks about 2cm across.  Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a non-stick pan until hot and then fry the aubergines over a highish heat until golden brown and soft on all sides.  It will drink up the oil - don't be tempted to add more, just keep turning the pieces regularly and it will be fine.  Now make a tomato sauce with a large onion, 4 cloves of garlic (both finely chopped), another couple of tablespoons of olive oil and 2 x 400g tins of good tomatoes - Cirio brand for me.  When the sauce is thick and reduced, add the aubergines and about 20g of chopped fresh basil.  Heat through, whilst cooking 400g of pasta - rigatoni, penne or even bucatini, the thick southern-Italian spaghetti.  Drain the pasta, keeping a little of the cooking water back, and toss with the aubergine and tomato sauce, adding a little cooking water to slacken everything and help it coat.  If you are lucky enough to get hold of ricotta salata, grate it over everything and serve pronto.  If not, Pecorino Romano or Parmesan is good, and I also stirred some chopped mozarella through right at the end.  Why not pop on a CD of Bellini's opera 'Norma', after which the dish is named, whilst you prepare and eat - I favour the recording with Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne or Callas/Ludwig.

Nigel Slater's Roasted Peppers with Pasta and Basil

We have been getting some wonderful long 'ramiro' peppers from Riverford this Autumn.  They are sweeter than traditional 'bell' peppers, and when I saw this recipe on Nigel's recent 'Simple Cooking' series, I knew I had to make it.  It is a variation on Piedmontese Peppers, where the halved peppers are stuffed with cherry tomatoes and garlic.  You make basil oil by blitzing a lot of fresh basil with olive oil, spoon over the peppers and tomatoes, and bake for 20 minutes or so, until the peppers are soft and juicy.  Serve with orechiette pasta, dressed in the remaining basil oil and the juices from the baking tin.  A delightful dish.  It would work with regular peppers, I'm sure, but do try to get the ramiro ones

Chicken and Basil Sizzle

A perfect little stir-fry from Judith Wills' brilliant book 'Top 200 Low Fat Dishes'.  Couldn't be simpler.  In a dessertspoon of sunflower or groundnut oil, stir-fry some chopped spring onion, chopped red chilli, garlic and ginger (however much or little you want), and then add two thinly-sliced chicken breasts and a sliced red pepper.  Stir and toss around the pan for a couple of minutes until chicken just cooked.  Now add about 120ml of veg or chicken stock, a splash of fish sauce, the juice of half a lime and a big handful of basil and chopped coriander leaf.  Stir for just a few seconds more and then spoon onto rice or noodles and tuck in.  Really low-fat, but really tasty.  Keep your frying pan or wok on the highest heat possible - the clue is in the word 'sizzle' - don't be afraid of  the heat here, it needs to be hot and fast.

Cottage Cheese and Roasted Red Pepper Spread

Delicious little spread or dip, this and so simple.  Take half a tub of plain low-fat cottage cheese, plenty of black pepper (the cheese is usually plenty salty, so don't add any more) a squeeze of lemon juice, a small roasted, skinned red pepper (some from a jar is fine but blot as much oil off as possible) and a tablespoon or so of basil leaves.  Blend in a processor or mini chopper - try to leave some chunkiness for texture.  Now, taste and adjust the seasoning with some Tabasco sauce to spike it up, if liked, and serve as a sandwich spread with lettuce and cucumber or as a dip with crispbreads, tortilla chips, crudites, etc.  Yum!

Bread and Tomato Salad [#134]

A rare warm day this summer, so we tackled one of the salad backlogs - as usual, I fiddled with this recipe - well, added to it really. I thought it was the Italian classic panzanella but Nigel toasted his ciabatta rather than soaking it in water, olive oil and chopped tomatoes, as the Italians would do. I also decided to roast the tomatoes and pepper, along with some onion and courgettes. This created a luscious mass which was spooned over watercress, topped with crunchy cucumber, some really good albacore tuna from a jar, marinated artichokes, black olives and basil. With a simple red wine vinegar and olive oil dressing, this was a fantastic, flalourful salad, full of colour and texture, and perfect for a warm - finally - summer's evening.

Roast Tomato Soup with Basil and Olive Oil Toasts [#124]

Lovely smoky soup with a good aniseedy basil hit. The thin olive oil toasts were a lovely textural counterpoint. We ate this hot rather than cold, as the weather wasn't really suitable for chilled soup, but I imagine it would be lovely iced on a hot day.....should we ever get another one! I upped the quantity of red pepper in this, mainly because I had extra in the house, and also, I just love the flavour of roasted red pepper, especially in a soup. I also added onion, because I couldn't think of a soup without it.

Roast Tomatoes with Anchovy and Basil [#120]

While not exactly a total convert to the rather overtly fishy delights of the anchovy, Nigel has at least made me happy to prepare dishes with them in. I do, however, drastically cut down the quantity he uses. Simple dish again, and a juicy accompaniment to the chicken couscous. Roasted tomatoes, with a dressing of chopped anchovy, olive oil and chopped basil.

Phew! After a week of no Nigel, I have him three times in one night (go on, you KNOW what I mean!)

Grilled Zucchini with Basil and Lemon [#119]

Yum. Local courgettes from the pick-your-own, bursting with freshness. Sliced lengthways then chargrilled on the griddle pan. Then left to steep in lemon zest and juice, a little EVOO and shredded basil. The warm veg absorbs the dressing making for a really delicious, juicy side dish.

Mushroom Lasagne with Basil and Cream [#114]

Lighter than it sounds, with a lovely freshness coming from fresh pesto. We baked the lasagne and then let it settle for 15 minutes, when it reached a nice temperature for eating on a hot summer's evening. I'm sure we'll make this again.

A Soup of Roasted Summer Vegetables [#105]

It turned a bit blustery and chilly today, so I decided on Nigel's soup of roasted vegetables, with a lovely mix including carrots, fennel, courgettes, onions and tomatoes. I diced them quite small and roasted them until they started to singe a bit at the corners. Then they simmered in some Marigold veg stock with a shot of tomato puree, and I also added some tinned cannellini and borlotti beans and orzo pasta. Some shredded spinach went in at the end, and it was served with a big dollop of pureed basil olive oil and toasted pine nuts. Lovely soup, and well worth the initial roasting for a marvellous depth of flavour.

Orecchietti with Roast Tomatoes and Basil Sauce [#85]

Perfectly nice recipe, just like the sort of thing I would make myself. One thing I did differently from Nigel was to skin the tomatoes first, but then I was using large ones rather than the cherry toms he suggests (although I did fling some of them in as well!). Nice wholesome veggie supper, with English strawberries and some juicy navel oranges to follow - we feel quite virtuous! No online recipe, sadly, but basically, loads of ripe tomatoes, garlic, olive oil - grill or roast till jammy and brownly blistered, mush through cooked pasta with a touch of cream or creme fraiche and loads of fresh basil. Add grated parmesan - voila!

Pasta with New Season's Garlic and Pasta with Lemon and Basil [#s 79 and 80]

Bit of a cheat here as I combined two recipes - Carluccio's artisanal cappellacci from Puglia instead of the linguine and spaghetti suggested in the original dishes - simple, but yummy. Cook the pasta as usual and whilst that is happening, grate the zest of a lemon and juice half of it and finely chop or crush two small cloves of new season's garlic (important, this, so it isn't too strong). Shred a handful of basil, grate a good three tablespoons of parmesan, and cut a good knob of butter - about 25g. Drain the pasta, reserving a couple of tablespoons or so of the cooking water, and return to the hot pan. Throw everything in and combine over a low heat until bubbling and hot. I also added some sprue asparagus to give us some greens. Takes almost as long to describe this as it does to cook it! Check out the original recipe here and here

Chickpeas with Harissa, Basil and Parma Ham [#78]

This was so easy a 2 year old - or a husband - could do it. I got a punnet of organic English tomatoes from M&S, and roasting them, with aubergine chunks, cumin and olive oil, is much the best way to flatter their rather exiguous flavour at this time of year. The recipe calls for 180ml of olive oil in total, which is just too calorific for us, so I used much less - probably in the region of about 70ml which was plenty. We have left-overs to take to wok too. Hurrah! Thrifty and tasty - leave the ham out for a perfect veggie - indeed, vegan - dish (although the saltiness of the ham added a delicious extra dimension). Served with olive ciabatta to mop up the copious juices, it was a lovely, easy supper.