CORN CAKES WITH BEETROOT AND APPLE SALAD

This is a fantastic recipe from the cookbook Nopi from Ottolenghi-Scully. Nopi is a restaurant in London. The corn cake, combined with the crispy salad of beetroot and apple is just amazing. A recipe for the weekend because there are many steps to be taken.

INGREDIENTS
5 medium corn cogs, husks removed or 500g corn kernels
3 small banana shallots, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp fennel seeds, lightly toasted and coarsely crushed
1 tsp ground cumin, lightly toasted
1 tsp celery seeds
15g parsley leaves, roughly chopped
1 tsp baking powder
80g unsalted butter, melted
20g extra butter, for greasing moulds
2 large eggs, yolks and whites separated
2 Tbsp plain flour
60g feta cheese, broken into 6 chunks
coarse sea salt and black pepper

 

Beetroot and apple salad

120g Greek yoghurt
2 tsp Valdespino sherry vinegar (or another good sherry vinegar)
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp fennel seeds, roasted and coarsely crushed
1/2 tsp celery seeds
15g parsley, roughly chopped
2 medium raw beetroot, peeled and julienned
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and julienned
(Keep the apple covered with water with some lemon juice, to prevent discoloration, if prepared in advance.)



To serve
1/2 tsp extra roasted fennel seeds, to garnish
small basil leaves

METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 200° C.
Grease the 6 moulds very well with butter and line with squares of baking parchment, cut large enough so that the sides rise a couple of centimetres above the muffin tray.

Place all ingredients for the salad, apart from the beetroot and apple, in a medium bowl. Mix well and set aside until ready to serve.



Place each cob perpendicular on your chopping board and use a large sharp knife to shave off the kernels: you should have about 500g. 

Discard the cob and transfer the kernels to a food processor, along with the shallots and the garlic. 

Pulse for 3-4 seconds, until the mixture is roughly processed but has not turned to a wet purée.

Add the fennel seeds, cumin, celery seeds, parsley, baking powder, butter and egg yolks, along with 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and a very good grind of black pepper.
Blitz a few more time, to combine - some of the corn kernels will still be whole - then transfer to a medium bowl. Fold the flour in by hand and set aside.

Place the egg whites in a separate medium bowl and whisk to form firm peaks. 

Fold a third of the whites gently into the corn mixture - you don't want to overwork it - and then, once it has incorporated, continue with the next third and then the next.

Once fully incorporated, divide the mixture between the moulds and then insert a chunk of feta into each.

Push it halfway into the corn mixture: the cakes will puff up around the cheese when they cook.

Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, until the cakes have risen and are golden and fluffy: the mixture will still be a bit wet at this point.
Remove from the oven and set aside for 10 minutes before lifting the out of the tray.



Cut the beetroot and the apple in julienne.



Add the beetroot and apple to the salad dressing just before serving and mix together gently.



Serve the warm cakes with the salad alongside, sprinkled with the remaining fennel and basil leaves.

Here it is served with herbed chicken. Click here for the recipe.

Serves 6