“When my one-year-old daughter Jayda comes into the restaurant for lunch every Thursday, this is the dish she craves. I love sitting in the restaurant watching her eat them. She starts off like her mother, so feminine and delicate, tasting one small mouthful at a time with a little whipped ricotta. Before you know it, she transforms into me, demolishing the whole bowl in a matter of minutes with debris spread all over her face and the restaurant floor.”
Shane Delia: Carrot and apricot croquettes with garlic and lemon ricotta
Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for carrot and apricot croquettes with garlic and lemon ricotta by Shane Delia from Maha restaurant in Melbourne.
- 30 mins preparation
- 45 mins cooking plus chilling
- Serves 4
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Ingredients
- 5 carrots (660gm), coarsely chopped
- 90 gm day-old white breadcrumbs
- 4 dried apricots, finely diced
- 2 spring onions, thinly sliced
- 1½ tbsp pine nuts
- 1 small garlic clove, crushed
- ½ tsp Aleppo pepper (see note)
- 4 each flat-leaf parsley, mint and dill sprigs, coarsely chopped
- 1 small egg
- For dusting: plain flour
- 200 ml olive oil, for shallow-frying
Garlic and lemon ricotta
- 250 gm ricotta
- Finely grated rind of 1 lemon
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 200 gm natural yoghurt
Method
Main
- 1Steam carrot in a steamer over a saucepan of boiling water until tender (20-25 minutes). Transfer to a bowl, mash to a smooth purée, add remaining ingredients (except flour and oil), season to taste and mix to form a soft dough, adding more breadcrumbs if dough is too sticky. Roll tablespoons of mixture into cigar shapes, lightly dusting with flour to prevent dough from sticking, then place on a tray lined with baking paper and refrigerate until firm (1-2 hours).
- 2Heat olive oil to 1cm-deep in a deep-sided frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook croquettes, in batches, until golden and cooked through (6-8 minutes), then drain on absorbent paper.
- 3Meanwhile, for garlic and lemon ricotta, combine ingredients in a bowl, season to taste and serve with warm croquettes.
Notes
Aleppo pepper is hot dried Turkish chilli, available from Turkish grocers. If unavailable, substitute roasted chilli flakes, available from Asian grocers.
This recipe is from the April 2010 issue of
.
Drink Suggestion: Aromatic, heady Eden Valley viognier. Drink suggestion by Max Allen