Hot-Crumbed Baby Mozzarella, Beetroot & New Potato Salad

In my never-ending search for yummy salad ideas, I came across this on the Delicious Magazine website.

The Delicious website is a fantastic resource, I'm a big fan of the magazine, and on the website you can find hundreds of their great recipes. A nice feature, much like the one on the BBC Good Food website, is that you'll often find people have rated the recipe. I must admit, I am easily led and a 5* rating can quickly get my interest just as much as a 1* rated recipe will lose it very fast. This recipe had a 4* rating which was good enough for me!

This dish was simple but flavoursome and very satisfying, especially when accompanied by large hunks of buttered crusty bread. Recipe is to serve 4, however I'd say it as a main meal it would be more like 3.

Hot-Crumbed Baby Mozzarella, Beetroot & New Potato Salad

Ingredients

75g fresh white breadcrumbs
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
Generous pinch of chilli flakes
Small handful fresh thyme leaves
50g plain flour
2 large free-range eggs, beaten
150g baby mozzarella balls, drained
250g new potatoes, halved length ways
4 tbsp olive oil
4 cooked, peeled beetroot, quartered
1 red onion, cut into wedges
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Vegetable oil, for deep frying
100g mixed rocket, watercress and spinach

Method

Preheat the oven to 200c/gas mark 6.

In a medium bowl mix together the breadcrumbs, lemon zest, a few chilli flakes, sprinkling of thyme (I used lemon thyme) and seasoning. Place the flour in a second bowl and the eggs into a third.

Pat the mozzarella balls dry with kitchen paper, then roll the balls in the flour, dip into the egg and then roll in the breadcrumb mixture. Repeat in the egg and breadcrumbs to make a double layer then set to one side.

Place the potatoes in a roasting tin and drizzle with half of the olive oil. Scatter with some thyme leaves and a pinch of chilli flakes and season well. Roast for 15 minutes, shaking the tin occasionally. Add the beetroot and onion, drizzle with balsamic vinegar and roast for another 15 minutes.

Remove the vegetables from the tin and put to one side. Add the rest of the olive oil and a squeeze of lemon to the tin and whisk it up to make a dressing.

Half fill a saucepan or deep fat fryer with vegetable oil. Just before serving, heat over a high heat until a cube of bread turns golden in 30 seconds. Using a slotted spoon, lower the crumbed mozzarella into the hot oil and fry for 3-4 minutes until golden brown. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.

Pile the salad leaves onto plates, top with the roasted vegetables and drizzle with the dressing. Top with the hot mozzarella balls and serve!

On the whole it was a pretty simple recipe but I won't pretend that breading the mozzarella pearls was not a complete faff. I was losing the will to live midway through the process but I did persevere and the end result was worth it. I do think that Delicious were being a little optimistic when they said it took 15minutes to prepare, it took almost double that to prep the mozzarella alone!

love & kisses

Mrs M x

PS I've missed the pumpkin seeds off the recipe because quite frankly, I think they are gross and unnecessary!