Sweet Potato and Pea Fritters

Donna Hay magazine is such a pleasure to read, I finally gave in and took out a subscription. The photographs, layout and design and, of course, the recipes all please the eye and palate. I don't know about you, but many pages of my cooking magazines have bent over corners inside. I stash Donna Hay issues in a big wicker basket and every once in a while, when I am searching for something I recalled seeing in one of them, I take them all out and go through the magazines flipping open the pages with bent corners. 
And that's how I re-discovered this recipe. What a lovely little fritter....perfect for a light supper. DH suggest a minted pea salad to go with it, but a dollop of sour cream on top would be good too. Or both.

Sweet Potato and Pea Fritters

From Donna Hay Magazine, Issue 65

Ingredients:

2 cups self rising flour

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 cups thawed frozen peas

2 cups grated sweet potatoes

1/2 cup chopped mint

1/2 cup chopped basil

olive oil for frying

Method:

Mix flour, eggs, buttermilk, salt and pepper. Add the peas, sweet potatoes, mint and basil.

Heat the olive oil and fry the fritters using 1/4 cup batter for each one. Fry 2-3 minutes each side or until cooked through. (I treated them like pancakes: when I saw the bubbles come up in the center of the fritter, I flipped it.) 

Serve with a pea and mint salad.

Risotto Pudding Cake

Do you have any of  Sophie Dahl's cookbooks? You really should. They are treasure troves and what's best is they're easy, casual recipes, not complicated for the most part, and the flavors are wonderful. As I get older, I want less complicated. I don't mind fussing once in a while, especially for good friends and family visits, but I DO have a life outside the kitchen and blogging (and Pinterest). Don't we all?

Sophie's cookbooks are rather cozy, much like a family cookbook and with each recipe, she briefly connects them to warm memories of family, travels and friends. This risotto cake is a great example. Comforting, and yes, very much like rice pudding, but it's the Italian version. Sophie said she learned the recipe watching a mother in Sorrento making it for her family. Love the orange zest and almonds and really, it would be a treat to serve to company. Looks elegant and doesn't everyone love rice pudding? You've got to have those amaretti cookies though, they make the dish.

Sophie Dahl's Risotto Pudding Cake
From Very Fond of Food by Sophie Dahl

Ingredients:
4 cups milk
3/4 cup Arborio rice
Grated zest of one orange, plus extra to decorate
1/2 cup superfine sugar
3 eggs
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup tablespoons amaretti biscuits, crushed

Method:
Preheat oven to 325
Mix the milk, rice and orange zest in a pan. Cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until the rice has absorbed the milk. It took me about 1/2 hour.
Cool the rice mixture.
When cool, beat the eggs and sugar and add to the rice.
Butter a 9 inch springform pan and cover the bottom with crushed amaretti biscuits. Pour the rice mixture in and bake for about 45 minutes or until the top is golden. Let cool for one hour. Serve with crushed amaretto biscuits and orange zest. Tastes even better after it's refrigerated.

Artisan Bacon and Cheese Bread

Trolling through Noble Pig the other day (something I do every few weeks or so, playing catch-up), I came upon several recipes I really wanted to try. Cathy is so talented and I love her re-inventions. She discovered this bread recipe in Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois.  After reading how much she loves this book, I put it on my Amazon wish list. Cathy took the original version and added cheese and bacon....and then used bread flour to make it strong enough to hold those extras. It turned out perfectly. Loved it with tomato soup I posted recently!

Easy Artisan Bacon and Cheese Bread
Inspired by Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, via Cathy at Noble Pig

Ingredients:

10 slices thick cut bacon, diced

8 ounces shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese (shred yourself, not packaged)

2 Tablespoons granulated yeast

3 cups lukewarm water (body temperature is perfect and will not damage yeast)

5-1/2 cups (29.30 ounces) bread flour, more for dusting

1-1/2 Tablespoons kosher salt

1 Tablespoon butter

1 Tablespoon yellow cornmeal

Method:

Cook bacon over medium heat until brown and crunchy. Drain on paper towels.

Put yeast in a large bowl, pour in warm water and give the yeast a little stir with a wooden spoon. Add flour and salt. Start mixing with a wooden spoon, use your hands as necessary to fully wet the flour and salt. Add the cheese and bacon into the dough until fully combined. Cover dough with a tea towel or plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise for at least 3 hours. After 3 hours place dough in the refrigerator overnight.

When ready to bake, place a metal baking pan (not glass) on the bottom rack of the oven. Fill it with water, which will help steam the bread and makes it crusty.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees (the water will heat up during this time). Meanwhile, butter the bottom of an 11 x 17 baking tray and sprinkle cornmeal over the butter.

Sprinkle the dough with flour and flour your hands as well. Divide the dough into two even loaves, shaping each into a ball. Place on the baking tray, several inches apart. Sprinkle generously with flour. (I halved the recipe but you could make the entire recipe and save the dough in the refrigerator for another day.) Let rest on the baking tray for 30 minutes. Right before placing in the oven, score top of bread with an "x" or other decorative mark, cutting right through the dough.

Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool 15 minutes before slicing.