Sometimes you need a weekend like that. A “staycation” that involves delicious food, some fireworks, and no lesson plans. Don’t get me wrong; teaching has been a total blast. I love my students and they are working on some of the most impressive blogs I’ve ever laid eyes on, but every once in a while you just need some me time.
Today’s post is all about these delectable Corn and Sweet Pea Fritters. I believe may have blathered on incessantly about mentioned my fear of frying to you all in previous posts, and so I thought it fitting that my first “Fear no Food” experiment should be heavily focused on frying. Now you may be wondering “but Frieda, didn’t you deep fry those Orange Creamsicle Doughnuts a few weeks ago?”
Well, yes. Yes I did. But here’s the deal: deep-frying is way less terrifying that pan-frying. I thought it would be the opposite, but unless you are catapulting fritters into a deep pot filled with molten lava oil, it’s a far calmer experience than pan-frying.
In pan-frying, the fritters POP. The oil sizzles and bubbles and does all manner of terrifying leaps and bounds; it’s like a scene out of Macbeth with those witches and the cauldron. In deep-frying, the oil sizzles when you drop in a doughnut, but since it has room to fall beneath the surface of the oil, the chances of you getting hit by little specks of oil are drastically slimmer than pan-frying. Also, in pan-frying, you need to flip those fritters, which means keeping your hands dangerously close to a whole bunch of hot oil in a hot skillet as you flip a hot fritter which will no doubt sputter and burn you as you flip it.
With that said, I will admit that I am slightly less terrified of frying now. It’s actually not so bad, and as long as your oil doesn’t start to smoke (if it does take it off the heat IMMEDIATELY or it will ruin your food and make your home smell awful) you can whip up a batch of these Corn and Sweet Pea Fritters in no time! They are the perfect combination of sweet and savory, and a perfect snack to enjoy all summer long while corn is fresh and in season.
I went with an all-purpose vegetable oil for frying these, which has a relatively high smoke point (good for frying) and virtually no taste of its own. If you aren’t concerned about peanut allergies, peanut oil is another wonderful frying oil. Do not go with something like olive oil though; it has a low smoke point, which means it will degrade at a far lower temperature than vegetable oil, and it has a distinct taste that you may not want competing with the other flavors in your fritter.
Other than the initial intimidating frying, corn fritters are ridiculously simple. Just whisk together all the ingredients, and fry, baby, fry!
Conquering this fear of pan-frying led to another new recipe for Five Ingredient Homemade Fried Pickles, which I will be sharing with you all on Friday, so be sure to check back that morning!
Happy Frying!
Corn and Sweet Pea Fritters
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 tsp vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cups fresh corn
- 1 cup fresh sweet peas
- vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large cast iron skillet (or other large, durable skillet) over medium high heat. You can tell that the oil is hot enough if you throw a pinch of flour into it and it sizzles. If it starts to smoke in any way, remove from heat immediately.
- In one bowl, whisk together egg and milk. In another larger bowl, combine flour,baking powder, and salt. Pour wet mixture over dry mixture and stir until it just comes together. Gently fold in corn and peas.
- Once oil is hot enough, gently drop heaping tablespoons of the fritter batter into the pan, leaving a few inches in between each fritter. Press down gently with the back of a wooden spoon or spatula to flatten slightly.
- Fry until golden brown (approx 45 seconds) then flip once and brown on the other side (approx another 45 seconds). Carefully remove with spatula to drain on a paper towel lined cooling rack.
- Repeat with the rest of the fritter batter.
