Ricotta fritters recipe

Ingredients

• 25 g dried porcini mushrooms
• Optional: 4 anchovy fillets
• 1 dried red chilli
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 700 g passata
• 8 black olives (stone in)
• ½ a bunch of fresh basil

• 1 large egg
• 400 g ricotta cheese
• 1 whole nutmeg, for grating
• 1 lemon
• 40 g Parmesan cheese
• 1 heaped tbsp plain flour
• Olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar

• 400 g firm green or yellow baby courgettes
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 fresh red chilli
• ½ a bunch of fresh mint
• 1 lemon

1. Put the porcini into a mug and cover with boiling water. Crack the egg into a mixing bowl, add the ricotta, finely grate in ¼ of the nutmeg, the lemon zest and Parmesan, add the flour, then beat together. Put 1 tablespoon of olive oil into the frying pan, then use a tablespoon to spoon in 8 large dollops of the mixture, turning carefully when nice and golden.
2. Put the anchovies (if using) and 1 tablespoon of olive oil into the casserole pan, crumble in the dried chilli, and squash in the unpeeled garlic through a garlic crusher. Finely chop and add the porcini with half their soaking water and the passata, season with salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Squash and add the olives, discarding the stones. Pick and reserve a few basil leaves, then chop the rest and add to the sauce.
3. Grate the courgettes in the processor (you could use a box grater here) and tip into a bowl with a pinch of salt and pepper, the juice of the zested lemon and the extra virgin olive oil. Finely chop and add the chilli and the top leafy half of the mint, then toss together. Place the fritters on top of the sauce, then scatter over the reserved basil leaves, drizzle with balsamic and serve with lemon wedges.