Before I move onto that, though, I want to share with you my great love of all things garlic. Short version, I love the stuff. It goes in almost everything. I've already used two types of garlic today, and dinner is yet to come. I just really don't like peeling the stuff. It makes my fingers burn. So imagine my surprise when I came across this wicker basket of joy.
Single bulb garlic. So much more garlicky fun with reduced peeling hassle. I had to have it! It has now joined my garlic collection. I used this in the rosti, but had to use something a little different in the fritters. The fritters were given this beauty. Slow roasted garlic. Yum!
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Now, moving onto the actual cooking part of things. As I said before, I really, really wanted sweetcorn fritters. I know sweetcorn fritters and potato rostis are really simple, but it's what I fancied today. I'll give you something more challenging next time. There are more than a few recipes for this stuff out there, but here's how I made them.
Sweetcorn Fritters
3 tbsp plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 tsp slow roasted garlic paste
Water to make a paste
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp paprika
200g sweetcorn (defrosted or drained. Your choice!)
I made a paste using the flour, baking powder, paprika, salt and water. Just keep whisking until it's smooth. It needs to be thick enough to coat the sweetcorn nicely, but don't make it too thick or you run the risk of it being gloopy. Add the sweetcorn and your mixture is ready! Simple, eh?
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Look at how lovely and bubbly the mixture is already! Heat a drizzle of oil in a frying pan and, over a medium flame, drop the mixture in little piles, about a tablespoon for each fritter. Now leave them alone for a few minutes. I hate doing this. I like to keep poking and prodding and stirring, but don't! leave them until they start setting around the edges.
Look at how bubbly they get! Now it's time to turn them over. The top is still really runny, so carefully slide the spatula under them and flip them over. Flatten them down now. Go on, squash them. They won't cook through properly if they are too thick.
Serve with sweet chilli sauce because sweetcorn fritters deserve the love. The rostis don't really need any sauce. I love them on their own.
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Sweetcorn Fritters
3 tbsp plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 tsp slow roasted garlic paste
Water to make a paste
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp paprika
200g sweetcorn (defrosted or drained. Your choice!)
Look at how lovely and bubbly the mixture is already! Heat a drizzle of oil in a frying pan and, over a medium flame, drop the mixture in little piles, about a tablespoon for each fritter. Now leave them alone for a few minutes. I hate doing this. I like to keep poking and prodding and stirring, but don't! leave them until they start setting around the edges.
Take them out when they are lovely and golden on both sides, and don't feel squidgy in the middle. I should have taken a photo of them at this point, but I didn't because I'm a fool.
Potato rosti
1 large potato
1 small onion
1 clove garlic (or half a clove if you have the huge single bulb garlic goodness)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp plain flour
Now, everyone has their own way of doing the potatoes. Most recipes call for grated potatoes, but I like their to be a bit more bite to my rostis, so I like to chop them into things that resemble matchsticks but are no where near uniform enough to be called that. Plus I like to torture myself. This takes forever. But I have a beautiful knife I love to use (ceramic knife. It slices through everything like it's butter!) so it makes it almost fun, for the first half of the potato. But I digress. So prepare the potato the way you like it. Squeeze out all the moisture you can from the potatoes. Squeeze them between paper towels, roll them in cloth or use a potato ricer like one recipe suggested. I like mine a little soft in the middle, so I don't squeeze them as hard. Thinly slice the onion, and cut the garlic as finely as you can. Mix them into the potato along with the flour, salt and pepper.
Spoon the mixture into a hot frying pan with a drizzle of oil. Again, about a tablespoon each. I don't pack them in too tight at this point. As with the fritters, leave them for a few minutes. When the potato at the bottom looks crispy, flip them over and squash them out. Savour the sizzle. Take them out when they are nice and brown on both sides.
Yum.
