Goat’s cheese fritters & watercress pesto

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 2 eggs
• 75g fresh breadcrumbs
• 25g hazelnuts, ground
• 8 slices of goat’s cheese, about 2cm thick
• 50g watercress
• ½ lemon, zest and juice
• 50ml olive oil
• 3 tbsp water
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Place the flour, egg and breadcrumbs onto 3 plates. Mix the hazelnuts into the breadcrumbs.

Dust the cheese rounds in the flour, coat in the beaten egg then press into the breadcrumbs. Egg each round a second time then breadcrumb again, too. Set aside.

To make the pesto, coarsely chop the watercress then mix together with the lemon, olive oil and water. Generously season.

Heat the oil in a small enough pan to give you around a 6-8 cm depth. Check the temperature by dropping in a little piece of bread. It should sizzle nicely!

Gently lower the cheeses into the oil, 2 or 3 at a time. Cook until they take on a good golden colour all over. This will take 3-4 mins. Place on some kitchen paper to drain and keep warm while you cook the rest.

Serve the goat’s cheese on a bed of crunchy salad leaves, drizzled with the flavourful pesto.

Images: John Holdship