Corn Fritters

I'm faced with a glut of fresh corn, which is a good problem to confront. When it comes to fresh corn, I'm one dimensional in my approach to it. Generally, I just grill or boil it on the cob.

It's not a very imaginative way to prepare corn, but sometimes the simpler approaches to life yield the best results. However, I'm always striving to expand my range as a cook, so today I set out to try a new corn recipe, corn fritters. The recipe is adapted from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, a great cookbook to reach for when you're craving a bit of inspiration.

Corn Fritter Recipe

Ingredients of 12 (2-inch) fritters:

• 4 ears fresh corn (You could also used canned or frozen corn)
  
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons fine-ground cornmeal
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream (If you don't have cream, you could substitute sour cream)
  
• 1 shallot minced (You could use onion also, but only mince a tablespoon)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

Instructions:

1. Cut the corn from two of the cobs using a knife. Grate the remaining ears of corn over the large holes of a box grater.
   
2. Stir the egg, flour, cornmeal, cream, shallot, salt, and cayenne into the corn to make a thick batter.
3. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Drop heaping tablespoons of batter into the oil. Fry until golden brown on both sides, about 1 minute per side. Transfer the fritters to a paper-towel-lined plate. You'll need to cook the fritters in two batches.

While this recipe will never top plain corn on the cob slathered with butter and sprinkled with a generously with salt, it's a tasty side dish that looks good on the plate. It's a dish I'll probably fix again when faced with an abundance of corn.

Take care,
muddywaters