Recipe Roulette: Frittered Greens baked with sauce

I got Rob to do the picking this round. He was in the kitchen grabbing a drink before heading back out to his studio when I said “choose a number…any number!” He gave me book 8. Page 126 then walked out the door. The idea of recipe roulette is to randomly choose a cook book from the shelf then a recipe in the book…random numbers work as do just grabbing and turning to any given page. But for this fortnight we have BOOK 8, PAGE 126. Which led me to this book:

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I was given this book for my Birthday a few years back when I was pregnant with Harper. It was a terribly stressful time for us then – he was just about to start filming the TV show he had directed and co written and was in pre production and was starting filming the day after my birthday. I was pregnant (about 7 months) with a 2 and a half-year old who was in daycare 4 days a week while I was working “part-time” which was basically full-time just over 4 days. It was a bloody awful time in which I  almost completely lost my shit and I recall at the time wanting to throw this book at Rob’s head because SURELY I deserved a parade for my Birthday given all I was doing at the time.

But this book it was, and it’s quite the bible. From what I can gather Vefa is the equivalent of Maggie Beer/Stephanie Alexander/Margaret Fulton in Greece but with better hair! I have cooked a few things from this – to be fair Rob has given more of it a go than I have…but page 126 took us to this recipe of green fritters which are baked in a sauce.

This recipe is quite fiddly (as I found out 2 hours later when I was done!). The recipe and ingredients are simple and bloody delicious…I will make these fritters again for sure but I’m not sure they will then be layered up with potato and then baked in the sauce…I’ll be skipping those steps and using the green fritters which were DELICIOUS on their own.

Frittered Greens Baked in Sauce (Hortokeftedes me saltsa)

For the Fritters:
700 grams assorted leafy greens (I used cavalo nero, english spinach, baby spinach & rocket)
3 shallots finely chopped
1 small onion grated
Bunch dill chopped
Bunch mint chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 eggs lightly beaten
150 grams fetta crumbled
4 tablespoons olive oil (extra for frying)
Salt & pepper
1 cup SR flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 large potatoes sliced into 5mm rounds

For the Sauce:
4 tablespoons olive oil
1.5 cups tomato juice
4 tablespoons dry red wine
1 teaspoon sugar
1 small chilli finely chopped

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1. Chop all the cleaned greens roughly and whack into a colander with a good sprinkle of salt

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2. Get your hands in there and squish the greens together mixing in that salt and making the greens wilt then place into a big mixing bowl

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3. Grate the onion, chop the shallots and add into the bowl of the wilted greens along with the dill and mint, oregano, eggs, fetta, olive oil, and salt and pepper and give it a good mix

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5. Then add in the flour and the baking powder until you have a thick, wet batter

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6. Place a dollop of the green mixture into some hot olive oil and fry off the fritters for a minute or so each side until brown. Drain on paper towel

7. Cut the 2 potatoes into 5mm slices and fry off until brown in the oil when you have done the fritters and drain on paper towel

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8. Place the slices of the browned potatoes on the bottom of an oven proof baking dish, then layer with the cooked fritters

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9. Throw all the ingredients for the sauce into a sauce pan and simmer for 15 minutes (I didn’t have tomato juice so used a jar of passata instead). Pour the sauce over the fritters and place in a hot 200 degree oven for 15-20 minutes

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10. Serve up immediately and enjoy!

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As I mentioned before, I would be skipping the potatoes and layered/baked bit and just make these delicious green fritters. They are SO tasty and a great way to get lots of greens into you without even realising – also a perfect way to get through my organic weekly delivery which has me sometimes scratching my head wondering how I will use them up. A couple of poached eggs over their back and you would have the most delicious breakfast!

So there we have round 2 of #babymacreciperoulette will you be playing along?
What’s in your 8th book across, page 126? I’d love to know!

Comments

  1. YUM! That is going on my list. Just my style.

  2. Julijana Griffiths says

    Very impressed Beth! If you had any left over green mixture you could have knocked up some Tiropites…like a good Greek housewife would have to present to her husband for meze!

  3. shoppegirls says

    Looks delicious. I will have to give this a try.

  4. Hayley Hutton says

    Oh I have 2 shelves of books, so did it with both.
    First shelf – My Table Pete Evans. Asparagus with poached egg, nut brown butter and truffle…um not tonight all out of truffles.
    Second shelf – Eating for the Seasons Janella Purcell. Spelt crumbed fish fingers….done!

  5. Reannon Hope says

    I love the sound of that dish! No doubt my kids will turn their noses up at it ( did your girls eat it?) & end up having noodles or weet bix but SCREW THEM! I’m making it….but can you eat fets while pregnant? I’ll have to check that out ( I always get confused with the cheese 7 pregnancy thing…)

  6. Beverley O'Brien says

    Choc-dipped Cream Horns ~ from Sally Wise’s Sweet Book ~ she is a great Tasmanian cook ~ I have all her books and everything turns out well and is great! Now I must make this recipe.

  7. fauxfuschia says

    do not, DO NOT get me started on fitting a full time job into “part time” hours. It really does require hardcore skilled time management. I long for servants to assist.

    Meanwhile I am partial to a fritter.

    C U tomoz.

  8. My book is entitled ‘The house of Oysters’ – An oyster lover’s guide with 55 recipes by Australia’s A-list chefs. Forward by Leo Schofield. Unfortunately, page 126 isn’t a recipe, but the secrets of the oyster connoisseur. Are you an oyster lover or an oyster hater?

    Did you know that oysters are the most potent aphrodisiac known to humankind. The cause is unknown and nothing has been confirmed by science, but many anecdotes support this well-known proposition!

    • BabyMacBlogBeth says

      I am an oyster LOVER. I’m not one for a fancy topping though – fresh with some salt, peeps and lemon juice and a glass of champagne of COURSE!

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