Hoosier Corn Fritters

It's getting towards the end of the season but local corn may be available a few more weeks.  Although  not everyone has a love affair with fresh corn on the cob, my father, who farmed in the Midwest growing up, passed just such a love on to at least some of his children.  Add to that the fact that I grew my own corn for over 20 years, and you've got a real corn snob on your hands.  But even someone who truly loves fresh corn on the cob, to the point that no off-season corn in any form is worth eating, appreciates eating fresh corn other ways than just on the cob.  These fritters are a great way to capture the corn flavor of summer with a bit of zing.

Corn fritter recipes are all over the Internet; many are exact copies of each other.  My recipe has been tweaked it over the years; it's not drastically different than what you'll find elsewhere, but to me it's a bit better than most.  It's not yet perfect but it is oh-so-delicious.  Go out and pick a few ears from your garden and give this a try.


HOOSIER CORN FRITTERS


Ingredients

• 2 ears fresh local corn, shucked, and kernels cut off cob
• 1/4 c. diced onion
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 c. 2% milk (other milk may be used, or even water)
• 3 T. yellow corn meal
• 3 T. whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 1/2 T. baking powder
• dash salt
• pepper to taste
• a dash of cayenne pepper, or cumin

Method


Whisk eggs with milk in large bowl, then add corn and onion.  Stir together corn meal, flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, and spice.  Add to corn batter and let sit 15 minutes.

Heat a thin sheet of olive oil in a non-stick skillet (medium heat).  Drop batter by small spoonfuls -- about 2 T. each -- into oil; fry until browned on each side, and drain on paper towels. 

Serve while warm with plain yogurt, sour cream, and/or a little homemade salsa.

Notes


Frozen corn will also work well for this, especially if it's corn you've cut off the ears and frozen yourself.  Don't bother with canned corn -- it simply isn't as good (I'm a corn snob, remember?  Or as I prefer to say, I have a highly educated palette).  The whole wheat flour adds just a bit of earthy flavor and the onion plays well with the corn.  They can be a bit crumbly (one of the things I'm trying to perfect) so make them small, not large, unless you don't care if you get lots of corn fritter chunks instead of fritters.  These fritters make a great side for a Thanksgiving dinner; substitute rosemary for the cayenne pepper or cumin.


And cook, eat, dance, love!

Blueberry Pudding Cake

Blueberry Pudding Cake is a recipe from epicurious.com.  I made it with only small modifications and wanted to be sure to credit the source.   If you're interested in the original recipe, check out the link; I'm posting as I made it. Very moist, flavorful, and a good way to highlight summer blueberries.

BLUEBERRY PUDDING CAKE

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. plus 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 c. water
• 1 T. fresh lemon juice
• 1 T. cornstarch
• 10 oz blueberries (2 cups)
• 1 c. whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 3/4 t. baking powder
• 1 t. salt
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 c. lowfat milk
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 1 t. vanilla

Method

Mix 1/4 c. sugar, water, lemon juice, and cornstarch in a small saucepan; add blueberries.  Bring to simmer and maintain, stirring as needed, for about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and 1/3 c. sugar.  Separately, mix egg, milk, butter, and vanilla.  Add flour mixture and stir until just combined.  Pour batter into greased 8x8 pan, then pour blueberry mixture evenly over batter.  The sauce partially sinks and makes a fun, spider-web-like design.

 

Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes.

Serve warm or at room temperature, ideally with a vanilla topping like ice cream, whipped cream, or  vanilla yogurt (my favorite, lighter than ice cream, but still adds the creamy, vanilla-y goodness).

Notes

I liked this but did find it pretty rich because of all the butter so if you try it, be forewarned and consider smaller servings than you might dish out.  I used less sugar than the recipe called for and was pleased with the not-sickening-sweet result, especially because of the richness.  It was very moist, more like a sponge cake, and the blueberry sauce also offset the richness and was a nice foil to the buttery cake.

Next time I'm going to add 1/2 c. more blueberries, a heaping T. or more of lemon zest, and perhaps sub lemon extract for the vanilla.

And when I do, I'll cook, eat, dance, love!