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Chickpeas and Swiss chard with pan-fried cuttlefish and polenta fritta

Preparation time
less than 30 mins

Cooking time
30 mins to 1 hour

Serves
Serves 4

By Theo Randall
From Saturday Kitchen

Ingredients

For the chickpeas and Swiss chard

  • 500g/1lb 2oz Swiss chard, leaves separated from stalks, stalks roughly chopped
  • 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
  • 100g/3½oz datterini tomatoes or cherry tomatoes, quartered
  • 1 x 700g jar chickpeas or from a tin, drained and rinsed
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the cuttlefish

  • 100ml/3½fl oz full-fat milk
  • 50g/1¾oz ‘00’ flour
  • 1kg/2lb 4oz cuttlefish, skinless, cleaned and cut into 1cm strips
  • 4 anchovy fillets in olive oil, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp flat leaf parsley, chopped
  • 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
  • 1 lemon
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the polenta fritta

  • 100g/3½oz bramata polenta
  • 200ml/7fl oz full-fat milk
  • 150g/5½oz ‘00’ flour
  • 250ml/9fl oz sunflower oil
  • 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
  • 1 tsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
  • sea salt

Method

  1. To make the chickpeas and Swiss chard, bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil over a high heat and add the chopped stalks. Bring the water back to a boil and blanch the stalks for 3 minutes. Remove the stalks from the water using a slotted spoon and set to one side. Add the green leaves of the Swiss chard to the boiling water. Bring the water back to the boil and blanch the leaves for 1 minute. Drain them in a colander and squeeze out the excess water. Transfer the leaves to a chopping board and roughly chop. Set to one side.

  2. Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in an medium saucepan over a medium heat. Add the garlic and blanched chard stalks and cook gently for 5 minutes so all the moisture from the stalks has cooked away. Add the tomatoes and chard leaves and then the chickpeas. Stir everything together, add another tablespoon of the oil and cook the mixture gently for 5 minutes, until heated through. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm.

  3. To make the pan-fried cuttlefish, place the milk in a bowl, then place the flour in another bowl and season with salt and pepper. Toss the fish slices first in the milk, then in the seasoned flour and coat well.

  4. Heat the remaining oil in a large frying pan over a high heat. Cook the fish slices for 2 minutes, turning regularly until each is cooked through and golden-brown.

  5. Strain the oil from the pan into a bowl, then add the anchovies, parsley and chilli to the pan with the fish and give it a shake to coat the cuttlefish evenly. Squeeze over the lemon juice.

  6. Alternatively, to make the polenta fritta pour 400ml/14fl oz water into a medium saucepan and place it over a high heat. Bring to a boil, add a pinch of salt and bring the water back to a simmer. Reduce the heat so that the water is simmering gently and slowly pour in the bramata polenta, stirring with a balloon whisk the whole time (going slowly is the key here so that you disperse the polenta evenly in the water). Once you have added all the polenta, turn down the heat and cook gently for 30 minutes, until it is starting to come away from the edges of the pan. Immediately pour the polenta into a straight-sided ceramic dish so that it’s 2cm thick. Leave to cool and set firm. Slice the cooled, set polenta into 2x4cm pieces.

  7. Pour the milk into a wide shallow, bowl and the flour into another.

  8. One by one, dip the polenta pieces first into the milk and then into the flour, making sure each is fully coated. Set aside on a plate while you coat the remainder.

  9. Pour the sunflower oil into a small, heavy-based saucepan and place it over a high heat. When it reaches 170C on a cook’s thermometer (or when a small piece of polenta dropped into the oil sizzles and turns golden within a few seconds), carefully place a few of the polenta pieces in the hot oil (no more than four at a time). Deep-fry them for about 3 minutes, until they are a light golden colour all over. Remove the polenta using a slotted spoon and transfer to a wire rack set over a tray to drain. Fry the remaining polenta pieces.

  10. Sprinkle over sea salt and the chopped parsley and chilli.

  11. Serve either the cuttlefish or the polenta on top of the chickpea and chard mixture, depending on dietary requirements.

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