I actually made this a fair while back when pumpkins were in season, it was just after halloween and there were pumpkin dishes popping up all over instagram and cooking websites alike. With thanks to my dad and his allotment, he gifted me half of the biggest pumpkin I have ever seen, and just the half alone was probably twice the size of my head! So with that I had some dinners to create. First I made the Pumpkin and Gorgonzola Risotto (which you must try) and then this. Inspired by two different recipes I found on the internet, the first on The Guardian from Jason Atherton where he makes ‘Butternut squash fritter with ricotta and lemon honey’ and the second from Regula Ysewijn on the Great British Chefs website where she makes Crispbreads topped with ricotta, cavolo nero, wild mushrooms and roasted hazelnuts.
So for a gal on a fridge raid with a fridge full of pumpkin, ricotta, mushrooms and cavelo nero these recipes were going to work a treat for me (and I’m not lying when I say I had these ingredients spare in my fridge, I get excited when I go supermarket shopping alright I can't help it! Plus, the mushrooms I actually bought frozen just to see what they'd be like)
So credit goes to both Jason Atherton and Regula Ysewijn for this one. But below you can find the adapted versions here to make the above.
Also I probably should have said this a bit earlier but have no fear, if you haven’t got pumpkin, and form of squash will do the job just as well. I wish you luck!
Pumpkin Fritters, Cavolo Nero, Mushrooms and Ricotta with Truffle Oil
Serves 2 - 3
INGREDIENTS
1.2kg Pumpkin or Squash
50g plain flour (seasoned with salt)
2 eggs, beaten
70g dried breadcrumbs / panko breadcrumbs
30g polenta
Rapeseed oil for deep frying
175g of wild mushrooms (I actually used frozen ones from Tesco)
1 bag of cavolo nero
200g ricotta
truffle oil
salt
freshly ground pepper
butter
olive oil
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5.
Cut the pumpkin into large wedges, discarding the seeds. Place on foil on a baking tray and season with salt. Wrap tightly and bake for about 45 minutes, until very tender.
Cool slightly, then cut away the skin and roughly chop the pumpkin into 3cm pieces.
Whilst the pumpkin is in the oven tear the cavolo nero into smaller pieces, blanch in salted boiling water for about 30 seconds then chill in cold water to retain the vibrant green colour and set aside until later
Prepare your mushrooms by brushing off any dirt. Tear or slice into evenly sized pieces. (I actually used half a bag of frozen wild mushrooms I got from Tescos for this, but they did the job just as well, they’ll just have a bit more moisture to them when you cook them so will have to drain away any excess juices, but save them for extra flavour later on if you fancied).
Heat up 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy-based pan and fry the mushrooms until they have a golden hue. Season with salt and pepper then remove from the pan and wrap in foil and leave in oven on a low temperature to keep warm until later.
In a bowl, mix the ricotta with a pinch of salt, white pepper (if you don’t have this normal black pepper is fine) , olive oil and a touch of truffle oil to give a spreadable consistency. Taste and adjust the measurements here yourself, truffle is a strong flavour so be frugal when adding it. But my oh my it is delicious too.
When the pumpkin has finished cooking and you have removed the skin and chopped into smaller pieces place it all in a frying pan over a very low heat and cook gently for about 15 minutes to dry out, stirring often; it should break down and become pasty the more the moisture evaporates. Do not allow it to brown. Season with salt to taste, tip into a wide dish and allow to cool. Cover and chill for about 20 minutes. (I got impatient by this point and started cheating and put it in the freezer to cool down quicker).
Once cool, shape the pumpkin into 12 quenelles (oval balls) by dipping 2 tablespoons in warm water, and moulding a generous spoonful of squash between them. Place each on a tray lined with clingfilm and chill for 20 minutes to firm up. (There’s a bit of a knack to making a quenelle, I basically think of it as taking a scoop of ice cream from the spoon behind, but scoop away from the body rather than towards … does that make sense? Probably only to me, if in doubt, just make them into balls. They’re pretty delicate.)
Have the seasoned flour, beaten eggs and breadcrumbs and polenta ready in 3 separate bowls. One at a time, coat each quenelle in flour, then dip in the beaten eggs and roll in the breadcrumbs to coat evenly.
Heat 6-7cm of oil in a deep, heavy pan to 200C/400F on a frying thermometer, or if you don’t have a thermometer, wait until the oil is shimmering and test with a small piece of squash to see if it bubbles and fries. Deep fry the quenelles in batches until golden brown and crisp – about 2 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. Keep them warm in the oven while you deep fry the rest.
When all the fritters are fried, leave them in the oven to keep crisp and now you can finally reheat the cavolo Nero in a pan with a knob of butter, salt and pepper until warmed through.
It’s time to serve. On a warm plate, spread a good dollop of ricotta on the plate, add your cavolo nero, top with some mushrooms and then delicately place your pumpkin (or squash) fritters on top aaaaand demolish.
It’s a time consuming dish, you’ve gotta be patient and keep your kitchen in order the whole time or you might just get in a bit of a tizz. I absolutely loved making this dish and was quite chuffed with how successfully it turned out, taste and visuals. If anyone ever does take on the challenge of recreating this, I would LOVE to see. This dish really excites me and gets me all bubbly inside every time I think about it.