Charlotte Pike

Food & Drink Expert

Dinner

Courgette Fritters

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These delicious fritters are wonderfully simple to make, and are a great use or larger courgettes, which, in my view, do not look as appealing or have the delicate flavour of the first, young courgettes of the season. Chickpea or gram flour has a lovely flavour, but use plain white flour if you don’t have it to hand. This recipe is very versatile, so feel free to try different cheeses and herbs.

Courgette Fritters

Charlotte Pike

These delicious fritters are wonderfully simple to make, and are a great use or larger courgettes, which, in my view, do not look as appealing or have the delicate flavour of the first, young courgettes of the season. Chickpea or gram flour has a lovely flavour, but use plain white flour if you don’t have it to hand. This recipe is very versatile, so feel free to try different cheeses and herbs.

Serves 4 as a starter, lunch or light supper

Ingredients

3 large courgettes, grated coarsely

4 spring onions, very thinly sliced

200g feta, crumbled into small pieces

3 large eggs, beaten

150g gram flour

2 tbsp finely chopped parsley

2 tbsp finely chopped mint leaves

Sea salt and black pepper

2-4 tbsp olive or sunflower oil, for frying

1-2 lemons, cut into wedges

 

Method

It really doesn’t take long to prepare and cook these fritters, so start by doing all the prep, and cooking them just before you want to eat them, so they’re at their freshest.

Start by putting the courgettes, spring onions and feta into a large mixing bowl. Stir together gently. Add the beaten eggs, flour and chopped herbs and season well with salt and pepper. Stir until the ingredients are evenly combined and the flour has been incorporated. The mixture will look a little lumpy, but don’t worry.

Pour half the oil into a large non-stick frying pan and heat over a medium-high heat.

When the oil is hot, spoon in the mixture, one large tablespoon at a time. The fritters may take one to two minutes to become richly browned and slightly crisp underneath, and then they can be flipped over, using a spatula. Once they are turned over, press each fritter slightly, to flatten and encourage the centre to cook through. Once firm and righly browned on each side, remove and place on kitchen paper to blot. Repeat until the mixture is used up. You should end up with 15-20 fritters, depending on size.

Serve fresh from the pan, but keep them warm in the oven on a baking tray if you need to.

Serve with lemon wedges, and maybe a tomato and herb salad. If the fritters aren’t all eaten up, you can keep them in the fridge and eat them cold or reheat in the oven later.

Gazpacho

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Gazpacho

Gazpacho is one of the highlights of summer cooking and eating, for me. Chilled soups are some of my favourite things to eat on hot days, and gazpacho is probably my favourite of all. I first learnt how to make gazpacho when I lived in Madrid. The summer was seriously hot, well into the mid 40s, and this was pretty much all I fancied for my evening meal. Gazpacho is eaten very widely in Spain, and in every deli or supermarket, you’ll see cartons of gazpacho for sale in the chiller.

We ate this every day a few weeks ago, during the heatwave here in the U.K., and it reminded me just why I love it so much. It is perfect for those evenings when it almost feels too hot to bother cooking and eating. It’s cooling, refreshing, nourishing, with such lively and exciting flavours.

This really is a soup to make in the peak of summer, when the ingredients are at their best. Quite simply, it won’t taste the same if you try it at any other time. The flavour of properly ripe tomatoes really make gazpacho sing. Good bread is essential, for body and texture.

For the best results, make this gazpacho in a blender or liquidiser, rather than a food processor, for the smoothest result. When it’s really hot, I often make this in the Nutribullet, meaning there is even less equipment to clear up afterwards. Olive oil and parsley make a wonderful topping, but chopped vegetables are quite traditional.

Gazpacho 

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

½ large cucumber, peeled, roughly chopped

1 large yellow pepper, de-seeded, roughly chopped

1 large red pepper, de-seeded, roughly chopped

6 large, perfectly ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped

2 banana shallots, roughly chopped

3 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

100g best quality bread, such as sourdough

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp Sherry vinegar

Sea salt

 

Method

Blend most of the cucumber, peppers, tomatoes and shallots to a rough purée in a food processor, reserving a couple of chunks of each vegetable for the garnish.

Add the garlic, bread, olive oil and sherry vinegar to the food processor and blend again until smooth, or to a more textured consistency if desired. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Transfer the soup to a jug, cover with cling film and chill for at least 20 minutes, or until cold.

Cut the reserved vegetables into small cubes. When ready to serve, pour the gazpacho into bowls and garnish with the vegetables.

Pheasant, Leek and Tarragon Pie

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This is a delicious pie, with a rich and creamy sauce, but plenty of freshness from the leeks and tarragon. It was published in the Easter Edition of Countryman’s Weekly, and my postbag has been positively bulging with emails from those of you who have enjoyed making this recipe. So, please do enjoy and tell me if you make it!

Pheasant, Leek and Tarragon Pie

Charlotte Pike

This is a delicious pie, with a rich and creamy sauce, but plenty of freshness from the leeks and tarragon.

Serves 4, generously

Ingredients

600g pheasant breasts, trimmed of fat and any shot

50g butter

4 large leeks, cut into 1cm thick slices

Sea salt and black pepper

200ml chicken stock

200ml double cream

Leaves from 5 sprigs fresh French tarragon

1 x 375g (appx) sheet ready rolled all butter puff pastry

1 egg, beaten

 

Method

Cut the pheasant breast into large strips or chunks.  Melt half of the butter in a large non-stick frying pan, and add the pheasant. Cook for around 4 minutes to lightly brown the meat. Set aside, add the rest of the butter to the pan, and add the leeks. Cook over a moderate heat for around 15 minutes, until the leeks are softened, but not coloured. Add the pheasant back into the pan and season well with salt and pepper.

Next, add the stock and cream, stir well and simmer gently for another 5-10 minutes until slightly thickened. Transfer the pie filling to a pie dish and set aside to cool. The dish I use is 25x12cm.

Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas Mark 5. Roughly chop the tarragon leaves and stir through the pie filling. Top with the pastry sheet and brush that with beaten egg. Cut a cross or make a whole in the middle of the pastry sheet to allow the steam to escape. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the pastry is a rich brown and well risen.

I like to serve this with lots of green vegetables. The sauce is thinner than some pies and therefore coats the vegetables nicely. Potatoes can be served with the pie too, if you like.