Parsnip and potato fritters with bottarga sauce
Prep 20 min
Cool Overnight
Cook 1 hr 20 min
Serves 6–8 as a snack
For the fritters
500g parsnips
2 garlic cloves
5 black peppercorns
2-3 strips lemon peel
2-3 thyme sprigs
500ml single cream, plus 100ml extra, warmed
500g baking potatoes (russet or maris piper)
Salt and black pepper
100g cold butter, cubed
140g plain flour, seasoned
3 eggs
60ml milk
215g breadcrumbs, panko for preference
Sunflower, rapeseed or vegetable oil, for frying
Grated bottarga, to finish (optional)
For the sauce
25ml colatura di alici, or fish sauce
125ml lemon juice
135ml olive oil
65ml lemon oil
Peel and thinly slice the parsnips, then put them in a medium pan with the whole garlic cloves, peppercorns, lemon peel and thyme. Cover with cream and cook on a simmer until parsnips are very tender and the cream has cooked down and thickened significantly (keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t catch and burn). Remove and discard the aromatics, transfer the parsnips and cream to a blender and blitz smooth.
While the parsnips are cooking, simmer the potatoes in lightly salted water until the tip of a small, sharp knife pierces them easily. Drain, leave to steam dry for five minutes, then peel. Mash the potatoes with a potato masher or fork, then, little by little, whisk in the cold butter and warmed cream, until emulsified – you want a smooth but still slightly stiff puree, so stop adding cream as soon as it’s the right consistency. Season with salt and pepper.
Mix the potato puree with the parsnip puree, then transfer the mix to a medium tray – this will maximise the surface area of the puree, so helping it to cool more rapidly. Cover the surface with clingfilm or similar, to prevent a skin forming, then refrigerate, ideally overnight.
Now you’re ready to bread the fritters. Put the seasoned flour in one bowl, beat the eggs with a splash of milk in a second bowl and put the breadcrumbs in a third bowl. With lightly moistened hands, take a golf-ball sized piece of the chilled parsnip mix out of the tray and roll it into a ball. Drop the ball into the flour bowl, to coat, then roll in the egg mixture, before finally coating it in breadcrumbs and placing on a tray. Repeat with the remaining parsnip mix.
Whisk all the sauce ingredients in a bowl until slightly thickened and emulsified, then set aside.
Fill a wide, deep-sided saucepan with enough oil to come 5-7cm up the sides, and heat it to 180C (if you don’t have a probe, stick in the handle of a wooden spoon – it should bubble immediately, but not furiously). Once the oil is at temperature, fry the fritters a few at a time (be sure not to crowd the pan), until golden.
Spoon the sauce on to a platter, place the fritters on top or alongside, so you can drag them through the sauce, and serve hot – if you’re feeling decadent, grate a smattering of bottarga on top.
Celeriac cake with creme fraiche and winter citrus
Prep 15 min
Cook 1 hr
Serves 8
230g butter, softened
160g brown sugar
80g golden caster sugar
3 eggs
100ml grapeseed oil
240g wholegrain spelt flour
1¼ tsp salt
¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp celery seed
270g peeled and coarsely grated celeriac
300ml creme fraiche, to finish
For the fruit
2-4 meyer lemons, blood oranges or satsumas, plus the finely grated zest of 1 fruit
400ml water
200g golden caster sugar
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, cream the butter and both sugars until smooth and slightly aerated. With the motor on medium-high, add the eggs one at a time, fully incorporating each one before adding the next. Then, with the motor running, add the grapeseed oil in a thin, steady stream.
Mix all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Turn the mixer to low speed, add the flour mixture and grated celeriac, and mix until just combined.
Heat the oven to 210C (190C fan)/410F/gas 6½. Grease and line a round 24cm cake tin. Pour in the batter, level out the top, then bake for 30-40 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool completely.
While any winter citrus would work here, my favourites are meyer lemons, if available; failing that, blood orange or satsumawill do (as would buddha’s hand, if you can find that). Slice the unpeeled fruit very, very thin. Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan, bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar, then turn off the heat, add the fruit to the pan and leave to marinate while the syrup cools. You should end up with thin, transparent slices of glazed fruit.
Gently whip the creme fraiche to soft peaks. Cut the cake into wedges and serve with a dollop of creme fraiche, a few pieces of the citrus and top with a little finely grated fresh zest, if you wish.
Winter chicory salad with buttermilk dressing
Prep 25 min
Serves 4 as a side
250g mixed chicories – ideally as wide a variety of colours and textures as you can (castelfranco, radicchio tardivo, white and pink chicory, rosa di luisa)
1 tbsp preserved lemon peel, finely diced
½ shallot, very finely diced and soaked in 150ml chardonnay vinegar
100g each white sesame seeds and hulled hemp seeds, to finish
For the dressing
250ml buttermilk
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tsp white-wine vinegar – I use chardonnay vinegar
40ml creme fraiche
2 tsp lemon juice
75ml olive oil
75ml grapeseed oil
Salt and pepper
Put all the dressing ingredients bar the oils in a large bowl, whisk to combine, then slowly pour in the oils, whisking all the while, until you have an emulsified dressing. Season to taste and set aside.
Separate the chicory leaves, then wash and spin them dry. Put the drained diced shallot and preserved lemon peel in a large bowl, and add enough dressing just to coat all the leaves (keep any excess dressing in a jar in the fridge). Adjust the seasoning to taste, then sprinkle over the seed mix, arrange artfully on a platter and serve.
