Courgette, Corn and Carrot Fritters

I love cooking with fresh seasonal produce.  Cooking seasonably means you are buying locally, and usually at a reasonable price.

Summer is a fantastic season for fresh produce.  There is so much choice.  I get all carried away when I’m at the vege shop, with lots of ideas swimming around my head of what I’m going to make. I am such a spontaneous shopper, but also like to use the seasonal vegetables.  This time of year, I love using courgettes. I also love cooking and eating those juicy corn cobs!

Last week, my lovely friend Cate, gave me the Australian WW, “In Season Cookbook”.  It was a thank you gift for having her and her 3 grown up kids to stay for a few days.  Cate lives in Sydney, so I really make the most of the time we have together.  It’s the first time Cate’s kids had all been for a meal at our place since they were young. It was a pleasure to cook for such great appetites.  One night I cooked burgers for the seven of us and I cooked corn on the cob to go with it.  The corn was a big hit, but I made the big mistake of not cutting the corn into enough pieces before serving! Never ever do this, as someone loses out, but we quite happily turned this into humourous situation.

The Friday after Cate left, I made the following recipe from the book. It’s great for Friday night, and makes the most of courgettes, together with the fabulous corn that is around at the moment. The sweet corn and carrots gives the fritters that extra colour and flavour.

It is gluten free, and I used chickpea flour instead of flour..

COURGETTE, CORN AND CARROT FRITTERS

2 corn cobs

2 small courgettes

1 medium carrot

2 eggs, separated

1/2 cup rice/chickpea flour

2 tbsps water

2 tbsps vegetable oil

METHOD

• Trim husks and silk from corn. Using a sharp knife, cut kernels from cobs.  Cook corn in a small saucepan of boiling water until tender, about 3 minutes
• Coarsely grate courgette, and squeeze out excess moisture.
• Combine courgette with coarsely grated carrot, egg yolks, chickpea four and water in a medium bowl
• Beat egg whites in a bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks form.
• Fold egg whites into vegetable mixture.
• Shape mixture into 12 fritters
• Heat oil in a frying pan, and cook fritters in batches for 2 minutes on each side.  Check to make sure cooked through.
• Serve with a salad for a light meal.

CORN ON THE COB

• Take the husks and silk off the cobs
• Cut into desired serving pieces
• Place in large pot and cover with water
• Bring to the boil and reduce to medium heat and then cook for 5-7 minutes
• Drain and serve with softened butter
• Garnish with coriander or chopped chilli if you desire.