Monday Suppers

When I was working in Surry Hills fresh out of university, my husband and I would eat a muffin and a coffee at Bills on Crown Street nearly every morning. Bill Granger's muffins are AMAZING. And no doubt they were responsible for some post-honeymoon-pounds being gained by both of us. As good as those muffins were, we would sometimes really splurge and skip the muffin and have the scrambled eggs, or the ricotta hotcakes, or best of all, the sweetcorn fritters instead.

Heaven.

Given how much I loved those fritters I am amazed it has taken me 7 years since first tasting them to try to make them myself. It wasn't until my Mum told me they had eaten corn balls (a rainy Sunday family facourite) recently, and that my sister had cooked up some sweetcorn fritters on another occasion, that I thought I had better give these a try.

They were so easy! AND they were a hit with the kids - which given the wars waged at the dinner table of late was a huge relief! I was also thrilled to find another meal which serves everyone - not having to make 2 completely separate meals is a win!

Bill's Sweetcorn Fritters with Avocado Salsa

The ingredients:
525g corn kernels cut from 3 large corn (or tinned)
1 small red onion
2 eggs
15g coriander leaves
1/2 red capsicum*
125g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
EVOO & Butter for frying

For the Avocado Salsa:
2 ripe avocados, diced
15g coriander leaves
2 tbs lemon juice
2 tbs finely chopped spring onions
1 tomato, chopped
1 dash of tabasco sauce, optional (we didn't add this)
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Baby Spinach**

*This was an addition suggested by my sister. I didn't add this into the kids fritters, mainly because my sister didn't suggest it before I made theirs. But I will be adding it next time for them.
** This was my addition to make the meal go a little further and add some more greenery to our diet. It worked great.
***I didn't serve the avocado salsa to the boys - but instead they had some plain avocado and diced tomato on the side - tomato is not a favourite of either of my boys, but I am slowly wearing them down on their resistance (with a little help from their tomato-loving-cousin).

The recipe:
Preheat the oven to 120C.
Place 2 cups of the corn, onion, eggs, coriander, flour, baking powder, salt and pepper (and capsicum if using) in a food processor and process until combined. Place in a large bowl and add remaining corn, stir to combine.

Heat a knob of butter and tablespoon of EVOO in a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat.
Drop 2 tablespoons of mixture per fritter into the pan and cook in batches of 3 for 1-2 minutes each side.

Drain on paper towels and keep warm  in the oven whilst making the rest of the fritters and avocado salsa.

For the avocado salsa, place all ingredients in a bowl and stir gently to combine.
Serve the fritters with salsa on top and some fresh baby spinach leaves.

The result:
Divine. Crispy on the outside with soft sweetcorn and coriander in the center. The avocado salsa adds a delicious creamy texture and who doesn't love coriander?! (Well I was shocked recently to learn one of our friends actually hates coriander - I guess we will not cook these for him).

Do you have a menu item from a favourite restaurant you are dying to cook at home?