Couscous fritter with roasted plum mayonnaise by Refettorio Felix
Plums: 4 (100 to 150 g), halved and de stoned
Egg yolks: 2 (60 g)
Sunflower oil: 250 ml (sunflower or cooking/rapeseed)
White wine vinegar: 50 ml
Mustard: 7 g, mustard
Cane sugar: 7 g
Fine salt: 15 g
Ancho pepper: 1, or 2 small dry cascabel
Chili pepper: 1 dry morito soaked in warm water
Large onions: 1, halved
Beefsteak tomatoes: 4
Garlic: 1 bulb halved horizontally
Chilli peppers: 2
Strawberries: 250 gr ,fresh
Fine salt: 1 tablespoon
Olive oil: 100 ml
Molasses: 1 teaspoon, or sugar
Lime juice: 1, or red wine vinegar
Red chillies: 2 to 3, fresh
Strawberries: 250 gr, chopped small
Alcohol vinegar: 1 tablespoon
Herbs: 2 to 4springs herbs (any of this dill, tarragon, basil, chervil) finely chopped
Shallots: 2, diced
Turnips: 1 white, small diced (use instead core of cabbage, chicory, core of gem lettuce)
Fine salt: 1 teaspoon
Chilli: 2, small any color
Lime zest: 1
Lime juice: 1
Fine salt: 1 teaspoon
Olive oil: tablespoon
Couscous: 250 g, tabbouleh cooked
Cheese: 100 g, grated (or small dice of various cheese you “lost” in the cheese box)
Carrots: 50 g of raw vegetables (could be grated carrot, turnips, celeriac)
Cabbage: 100 g of cooked vegetables cut into small pieces (we had some cabbage, sprouting broccoli)
Lime: 30 g preserved lime or lemon, if not juice of 1 lemon
Fine salt: 10-15 g
Eggs: 2
Cooking oil: 50 ml
Under her leadership it has become a beacon of hope for vulnerable individuals in the local community, a place where each day she transforms surplus ingredients into restaurant-quality meals.
Here, she provides a few ideas for what to do with those tired pieces of fruit, vegetables or other ingredients you sometimes find at the back of the fridge, which may be slightly past their best but which, in Nonu's words, "deserve another chance"!
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Line a small tray with baking parchment. Mix the plums, sugar, pinch of salt, a teaspoon vinegar in a mixing bowl, then lay on the lined tray. Bake for 10 minutes until the plums the soft and ready to fall apart.
Leave the cool. Put the plums in a blender and blend to a paste. Switch off then add the 2 egg yolks, the rest of the vinegar, the salt, and the mustard. Start the blender again on a slow or up to medium speed, then add the oil in a slow drizzle. Make sure the oil is fully incorporated before adding more.
Once all the oil is added, check the consistency. If it is too thick, you may add 1 teaspoon or more of cold water. If you are happy with this bright pink happy blobby Ness, then just enjoy and celebrate.
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Line a tray with baking parchment. Toss the onion, tomatoes, peppers, garlic with oil, a pinch of salt then spread on the lined tray.
Roast in the reheated oven for 15 minutes until vegetables look toasted, smoky.
Cool slightly then pop out the garlic from the skins, onion from the skin.
Put all the cooked vegetables in a blender and blend at high speed for a minute. Add the strawberry, soaked chilies, the rest of the oil, salt, sugar, and lime juice and blend again. Adjust seasoning to your liking and spice.
Mix the chopped strawberry with the vinegar and set aside for 5 to 10 minutes.
Mix all the other ingredients, then add the pickled strawberry.
Pre heat the oven to 220°C. Line a small baking tray with baking parchment. Prepare a small jug with cold water and an ice-cream or cookie scoop.
In a mixing bowl put all the ingredients together. Put some gloves on and give it a good mix, making sure you have an even distribution.
Use the scoop to get 5 medium size round cakes, place them on the lined baking tray. Slightly flatten them on the top.
Bake for 10 minutes, until light brown, beautiful speckles of crunchiness and roastiness take over the cakes.
Leave to cool. Serve with tartare sauce (what we did), and plum mayonnaise.
