Crab & Sweet Corn Fritters- Too fancy for Sunday Football? or Juuuuust Right!

I am unashamed to say I am not a football fan. Nor am I a Hockey hysteric. I'm a baseball girl through and through. I like my sports played slow in uni's where I can actually see what the players look like. Unfortunately the end of September is upon us and the time has come to bid my boys of Summer adieu till March and welcome the boys of Fall. Don't get me wrong there are plenty of things I like about Football. Day Drinking for one, cheerleaders secondly. Not like that you perves! I like the half time shows. There aren't any halftime shows in baseball. This Sunday I spent with "the boys" watching large dual screens at a buddies house as they switched back and forth through all the games keeping up with their Fantasy team scores. I always relish the time I can spend with guys doing guy things. It's refreshing to not gossip for a while and just BS and clown on each other and relax. Still a good little Italian girl at heart if I'm going to be with a group of boys- I better be feeding them. Before coming over I whipped up some wicked strong Sangria and gathered all the ingredients for one of my favorite new appetizers- Crab and Sweet Corn Fritters.

I love crab cakes. I also love .... well pretty much anything with corn in it. Put the two together and add some spicy accents and I'm basically in heaven. I first prepared this recipe for a friends engagement party and it was a huge hit. I made the mistake the next time I made them for a gathering of preparing them in advance and trying to reheat them in the oven after which they got cold again while we waited for people. It wasn't pretty. So word to the wise you are gonna want to serve these straight away most likely in batches of 3 or 4 depending on the size of your pan and how many you can fit at one time. I served them with sour cream and sweet chili sauce for dipping which add just the right balance of creamy, sweet and spicy.

This Recipe is adapted from Pete Evans My Grill: Outdoor Cooking Australian Style. The main adaptation being that I cook them on a stove not a grill. I found this recipe on epicurious.com .

Crab & Sweet Corn Fritters



Ingredients:

8 ounces cooked crabmeat

2 green onions, thinly sliced

1 red or green serrano chile, finely chopped

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cornstarch

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup canned corn kernels, drained

2/3 cup cold mineral water

2/3 cup crème fraîche or sour cream, to serve

sweet chile sauce, to serve





Crab, Chili, & green onion



Batter

Lightly mix the crab, green onions, chile and cilantro in a bowl and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Sift the flour and cornstarch into a separate bowl. Add 2/3 cup cold mineral water and the eggs and whisk until smooth. Stir in the crab mixture and corn kernels. The mixture should have the consistency of heavy cream. I suggest keeping the mixture in the fridge for about 15 minutes before you begin frying and in between batches, the colder batter seems to fry better.





Second Side



First Side



Fill a large 1 + inch deep saute pan with about a quarter inch of your favorite cooking oil. I usually use vegetable myself. Heat over medium high heat. I don't have any particularly professional tips to tell you when your oil is hot enough. I frequently go off feel by holding my hand about an inch above the oil (if it feels pretty hot.... you're probably good..) and sound (a nice loud sizzle once you drop a test spoonful in). The test spoonful is always the most tangible way to see how well and how quickly it is frying.

Carefully drop the batter in by the heaping spoonful. Watch carefully flipping over once the edges begin to turn golden (about 2-3 minutes) the second side will most likely be done a little more quickly. Transfer with a slotted spatula to a plate was paper towels to drain extra oil off. Serve in hot batches with some sour cream and chili oil dolloped on top (or on the side if you prefer). Enjoy and GO TEAM!!!