Okay, so maybe we were a little too zealous about winter. Heading to Ohio for February, Michigan in March, Canada for April, and New England for May. Spring sprung back in Tennessee weeks ago and is well into summer. But we've been grateful for our cold rainy days in the north. Plus, the excitement of tender baby mescalin in Maine, fiddleheads in Vermont, and asparagus (known in western Massachusetts as Hadley grass) is much more exciting when the snow has barely melted. People up here love their spring vegetables, and we've been sharing in the thrill at local farmer's markets and co-ops as we are reaching to the bottom of the barrel for last winter's potatoes.
But now, with June barely flipped on our calendar, we want summer. We want corn!
We cheated a bit. A few weeks ago, when the fiddleheads were barely up and we hadn't yet tasted the crunch of a wild Jerusalem artichoke, we had a hankering. Luckily, at a Vermont co-op, we found a bag in the frozen section of New England grown, local, organic corn. It's cheating because everyone knows that waiting for the first fresh corn of the season makes opting out of the frozen section all winter worth it. But we'd been seeing nothing but gray, and the glisten of yellow in the freezer was like a blaze of sunshine in our newly adopted local-eating ways. We added it to our basket.
A week later, low on money and food, we remembered our corn stash. Mallory scavenged the rest of our supply. Half a bag of gluten free flour. Cornmeal. Spices. Oil. Half a jar of veganaise.
When we climbed into the front of the truck, we had a glistening basket of fritters. Mallory began navigating, Scott began driving and eating. When Mallory reached for her third fritter, there were none left.
"Scott, how many fritters do you think you've eaten?" she said.
"About three or four, I think, why?" he said.
"Because I'm about to have my third, and I made 15. Do you know where the rest are?"
Scott's eyes got wide.
"I'm a monster," he said.
We've made these tasty bites twice since the incident, and have a bag of corn waiting. These snacks are keeping us going until we finally reach the Midwest, where our first corn-on-the-cob will be tasted, fresh. And the cobs will help us keep track of how many we've really eaten.
Presenting to you our corniest Rumbly Tummy yet, the June Edition: Corn Fritters.
Corn Fritters!
Ingredients:
1/2 c Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 flour (or all purpose flour/flour of choice)
1/2 c cornmeal
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 TBSP cajun seasoning
1.5 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin
2 dashes smoked paprika
1/2 c soy milk (or milk of choice)
1/4 c water
1.5 c sweet corn
5+ TBSP canola oil (or vegetable oil of choice)
Instructions:
Whisk together all dry ingredients (except corn).
Add milk and water, whisk until the lumps are gone.
Fold in corn until evenly distributed.
Heat a medium frying pan with oil on medium-high heat. When you can drop a bit of batter in and it immediately begins to sizzle, you're ready.
Carefully plop a heaping Tablespoon of batter into the pan, flattening the top with a spatula (to make them into flat fritter patties). Be careful not to make these plops too big, or the fritters won't cook all the way through.
When the fritters are browning up the side a bit (about 3-5 minutes), flip to cook the other side.
When browned completely, remove from the oil and place on a brown bag to drain the excess oil. Eat by themselves, with a sauce of your choice, or enjoy it with the below bonus quick remoulade recipe. Pairs well on the side of the road in Amherst while talking to a Tennessee pal on the phone.
BONUS REMOULADE!
1/4 - 1/2 c veganaise or mayonnaise
1 - 2 TBSP green olive juice or caper juice
1 tsp hot sauce
1/4 tsp black pepper