Another 2-recipe wonder: Fritters and Tartlets

I get really excited when new issues of the glossy food magazines come out. This month, Gourmet Traveller, delicious and Donna Hay magazines all came out within days of each other. It’s not so much which one to buy (all of them), but which recipes to try out from each issue.

As usual, simplicity rules, which means that good ol’ Donna Hay won the chance for me to give an interpretation of some of her magazine’s recipes.

The August/September 2009 copy of dhm contains “mix ‘n’ match starters, mains, sides and desserts”, according to the cover, and I picked two starters/sides for a Friday night meal.

The dhm recipe for Zucchini Fritters came with a feta and pancetta salad. I left out the feta because there was already enough cheese in the accompanying tartlet dish. I also dressed the fennel salad with a lemon vinaigrette, and it’s a refreshing complement to the fritters.
Here’s my adapted version:


Zucchini fritters with pancetta and fennel salad
Serves 4

Ingredients
½ cup plain (all-purpose) flour
½ tsp baking powder
1 egg
¼ cup (60ml) milk
2 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
¼ cup chopped dill leaves
1 tbsp finely grated lemon rind
20g butter
4 slices pancetta
1 bulb fennel, finely sliced
1 cup rocket leaves
2 tblsp olive oil
1 tblsp lemon juice


Method
1. Put the zucchini in a large bowl with the sifted flour and baking powder, egg, milk, dill and lemon rind and stir until well combined.
2. Heat the butter in a frypan over medium high heat. Put 2 tablespoons of the mixture into the pan and cook for about 3 minutes on each side, until golden brown (make sure you do cook it, otherwise you may get the taste of uncooked flour). Remove from pan when cooked and drain on paper towels.
3. Increase heat to high and add pancetta and cook for 1 minute until crispy.
4. Put the rocket and fennel in a bowl and dress with olive oil and lemon juice.
5. Serve the fritters piled on a plate with the salad and pancetta.

Slice the zucchini and mix with flour, egg, milk, dill and lemon. Fry until golden

Zucchini fritters with fennel and pancetta salad

Then, because I thought we’d still be hungry, I tried some onion tartlets. I had some leftover cheddar cheese that I added to the recipe, and it made the tartlets deliciously rich. I should have pressed the onion rings into the pastry a bit more – they fell off the tartlets when puff pastry started rising. It still tasted divine, though.


Caramelised onion and blue cheese tartlets
Makes 10

Ingredients
1 tblsp olive oil
1 brown onion, thickly sliced (try to not loosen the rings)
1 sheet puff pastry
50g soft blue cheese


Method
Preheat oven to 220 deg C.
1. Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add the oil and onion and cook for 3-5 minutes on each side until golden.
2. Cut 7cm rounds of puff pastry and place on a paper-lined baking tray. Use a 5cm cutter to gently press a border into the pastry.
3. Spread each round with cheese (I also added some tasty cheese) and a wedge of onion ring. Press it down so it doesn’t fall off.
4. Bake for 10-15 minutes until the pastry is puffed and golden.

Recipes adapted from donna hay magazine (Aug/Sept 2009)

Cut pastry rounds from puff pastry; spread with soft blue cheese; caramelise the onion

Caramelised onion and blue cheese tartlets - lopsided but still good