19 Aug corn fritters

Nigel Slater has a beautiful way of writing recipes. He’s been holding the food fort at The Guardian for over a decade. There are a few Slater recipes that I have absorbed and adapted over the years, and one of my favourites is his method for making light and airy sweetcorn fritters. The trick he uses here is to add a beaten egg white to a batter made up of a whole egg and a bit of flour, lightly beaten to encourage a lightness of batter.

I have made these with corn in the cob from a can, and they’re not bad at all. It’s just that the fresh variety, freshly sliced from the cob, have an unbeatable crunchy texture, that the brine of a can eradicates from the kernels. It’s not often you see a corn on the cob in its grassy husk in a supermarket, but when you do, this is the recipe you should reach for. Sweetcorn’s official season is mid August to September so keep your eyes peeled, and you should happen upon them in the coming week.

To Slater’s batter method, I’ve added a touch of feta cheese for extra saltiness, and a handful of finely sliced spring onion for added flavour. You could add smokey spices like cumin and paprika, fresh herbs like coriander or a citrus kick of lemon or lime to the batter, depending on what kind of mood you were in. The basic batter of the corn, eggs, seasoning and flour can be shaped and adapted into your very own perfect sweet corn fritter recipe.

I could happily eat these for supper with a  lightly dressed green salad on the side, but they’re also delicious as part of a breakfast brunch. Try them with a bit of salty bacon and a dollop of creme fraiche on the side.

Serves 4

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 corn on the cob (or one tin of sweetcorn)

2 eggs

Salt

Pepper

1 heaped tablespoon of self-raising flour

1 heaped tablespoon of crumbled feta cheese

1 spring onion, finely sliced

Knob of butter, for frying

Method

1. Use a sharp knife to slice the corn kernels from the cob (or drain the tin of sweetcorn!). Place into a mixing bowl.

2. Break one egg into the mixing bowl with the corn kernels. Add a generous pinch of both salt and pepper. Add the tablespoon of self-raising flour to the bowl, mixing everything together lightly. Add the crumbled feta and sliced spring onion to the mixing bowl.

3. Separate the second egg, setting aside the yolk for another recipe. Whisk the egg white until stiff. Add the stiff egg white to the mixing bowl with the corn kernels, and lightly fold into the batter mix. You don’t want to over mix here as it will take out the lightness from the batter, so give it a little mix until everything is just combined.

4. Heat a knob of butter in a large frying pan over a medium to high heat. When the butter is sizzling, place a large tablespoon of the batter onto the pan and let them settle into fritter shapes. Fry for about five minutes on each side, until they’re really nicely browned. Be careful not to crowd the pan, you’ll want to fry about four fritters at a time. This batter will make about eight fritters.

Storecupboard Essential: Self-raising flour

Self-raising flour is simply regular flour with a raising agent, i.e. baking powder, added to it. It’s handy to have a packet of this flour in your cupboard for emergency cupcake baking sessions. I like using Dove’s Farm organic flour, and I also like Odlums.

This recipe first appeared in The Irish Independent on 18th of August 2016