Friday, May 27, 2005
Corn Fritters
.
OH JOY. OH RAPTURE. The weather in this far off land has finally hit 77 and I am positively sparkling with happiness. Yes, I am missing Memorial Day (in the USA) but I will still be having a three-day weekend and a picnic (BLISS!) and nothing can dampen my spirits. (If I could just commit to a menu) More on that next week…
Now, it’s on to the food…
As I have mentioned time and time again, I am the worlds leading advocate of the 7 o’clock cocktail-hour (formerly known as the after school snack), and have been toying around lately with little noshes that fit the bill. Things that are small and simple to make, light, and just the right balance of chic and tasty. Something to take the edge off while the grill is heating up, or in our case, before going to the gym. (Because nothing says workout like a little fried food. Am I right?)
A few nights ago, in the interest of exposing my charmingly British BF to new foods, and because I was craving some, I made polenta (Which, my mother once adorably pointed out “Why, that’s nothing new! It’s just corn meal mush like Mama used to serve!”) to go with a sausage, fennel and pepper ragout. Of course, there were leftovers galore, which led me right into the arms of my new favorite treat, corn fritters.
A fritter, by definition, is food that is mixed with batter and then dropped into hot fat. It also means to lounge about.* So you can see why I have concluded it is the perfect cocktail hour food!
This took all of five minutes to whip up, and was a smash hit. I served it with some non-fat plain yogurt mixed with chopped fresh dill and a dash of white pepper. If you want to make it part of the main meal, it would be a sensational accompaniment to grilled fish, a nice boiled lobster or broiled chicken. There are also a zillion different herb, spice and vegetable combinations you could mix and match with this to make it your own. Try it, and enjoy!
3 tablespoons flour
A large pinch of salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup cold (cooked) polenta, mushed up
2 teaspoons milk
¼ cup corn and peas mixed
Oil, to fry
In a deep pan, heat about ¾ inch of oil until hot.
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder. Add the polenta, milk, corn and peas and mix until it is a batter.
Using a large spoon, gently drop (really don’t drop, more like, place. This is hot oil after all.) some of the batter into the oil. They will expand a little, so space them apart and do not overcrowd the pan. You should get two batches of 4 fritters. Flip once and remove when golden brown. Drain on a paper towel, salt and serve.
Makes about eight fritters
___________________________
Pasta Pomodoro, a chain of restaurants in California and Arizona is owned in part by Wendy's International Inc.
The English eat nearly 9000 peas on average, per year
The first peas were frozen by Clarence Birdseye who invented the 'plate froster' to preserve foods in the 1920's. Then in 1969 the Birds Eye frozen pea commercial was the first TV ad to be broadcast in color
I put in the link to the song Ya Got Trouble, because one line is "Yes your young men will be frittering," & I thought it was funny
There has been a 100 percent increase since 1990 in the annual number of large-scale outbreaks of U.S. school-cafeteria food poisoning
OH JOY. OH RAPTURE. The weather in this far off land has finally hit 77 and I am positively sparkling with happiness. Yes, I am missing Memorial Day (in the USA) but I will still be having a three-day weekend and a picnic (BLISS!) and nothing can dampen my spirits. (If I could just commit to a menu) More on that next week…
Now, it’s on to the food…
As I have mentioned time and time again, I am the worlds leading advocate of the 7 o’clock cocktail-hour (formerly known as the after school snack), and have been toying around lately with little noshes that fit the bill. Things that are small and simple to make, light, and just the right balance of chic and tasty. Something to take the edge off while the grill is heating up, or in our case, before going to the gym. (Because nothing says workout like a little fried food. Am I right?)
A few nights ago, in the interest of exposing my charmingly British BF to new foods, and because I was craving some, I made polenta (Which, my mother once adorably pointed out “Why, that’s nothing new! It’s just corn meal mush like Mama used to serve!”) to go with a sausage, fennel and pepper ragout. Of course, there were leftovers galore, which led me right into the arms of my new favorite treat, corn fritters.
A fritter, by definition, is food that is mixed with batter and then dropped into hot fat. It also means to lounge about.* So you can see why I have concluded it is the perfect cocktail hour food!
This took all of five minutes to whip up, and was a smash hit. I served it with some non-fat plain yogurt mixed with chopped fresh dill and a dash of white pepper. If you want to make it part of the main meal, it would be a sensational accompaniment to grilled fish, a nice boiled lobster or broiled chicken. There are also a zillion different herb, spice and vegetable combinations you could mix and match with this to make it your own. Try it, and enjoy!
3 tablespoons flour
A large pinch of salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup cold (cooked) polenta, mushed up
2 teaspoons milk
¼ cup corn and peas mixed
Oil, to fry
In a deep pan, heat about ¾ inch of oil until hot.
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder. Add the polenta, milk, corn and peas and mix until it is a batter.
Using a large spoon, gently drop (really don’t drop, more like, place. This is hot oil after all.) some of the batter into the oil. They will expand a little, so space them apart and do not overcrowd the pan. You should get two batches of 4 fritters. Flip once and remove when golden brown. Drain on a paper towel, salt and serve.
Makes about eight fritters
___________________________
Pasta Pomodoro, a chain of restaurants in California and Arizona is owned in part by Wendy's International Inc.
The English eat nearly 9000 peas on average, per year
The first peas were frozen by Clarence Birdseye who invented the 'plate froster' to preserve foods in the 1920's. Then in 1969 the Birds Eye frozen pea commercial was the first TV ad to be broadcast in color
I put in the link to the song Ya Got Trouble, because one line is "Yes your young men will be frittering," & I thought it was funny
There has been a 100 percent increase since 1990 in the annual number of large-scale outbreaks of U.S. school-cafeteria food poisoning
Labels: Appetizer, Vegetarian
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Ah Rachael, this is something my mother used to make for us for dinner when we were kids. We ate them with maple syrup drizzled over. Hers had nothing green showing though; she probably didn't dare have any green ingredients or the pickier kids in the family (of which I was not one) would not have eaten them. Thanks for the memory.
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