Corn Fritters!

I will pretty much eat anything that is described as a fritter, which basically means something that is held together with a thick batter and deep-fried.  This approach to life got me in deep trouble one summer at the shore when I passed by a deep-fried Oreo stand (a word to the wise, if you must have an Oreo fritter, stop with one.  Don't go for three.  It will only end in tears.)

Anyway, this recipe, which comes from the wonderful cookbook A SOUTHERLY COURSE, calls these Corn Oysters...I think because they would be a good vegetarian stand-in for fried oysters..but to me they are just dang good corn fritters, made with a classic buttermilk, flour, corn meal and egg batter, mixed up with some fresh corn and, of course, deep fried.  Sometimes you just have to.

The key with this one is to separate the eggs.  The yolks get mixed into the regular batter, while the white get beaten and folded in at the end.  Somehow this turns the whole thing into a light, golden bundle of fritter heaven.  A little salt sprinkled over the top, and I could forget there was such a thing as an Oreo anywhere on the planet.

Fritters!  :)

Corn Fritters, adapted from A SOUTHERLY COURSE

• 2 large eggs, separated
• 1/2 teaspoon dark brown sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 6 ears fresh corn, kernels sliced off the cob
• 2 tablespoons buttermilk
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• Vegetable oil for frying
• Coarse salt

1. Whisk together egg yolks, brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Add the corn and stir to combine.
2. Whisk togethet the hour, cornmeal and baking powder with the remaining salt.  Stir into the corn mixture until just combined.
3. Heat 2 inches of oil in a large pot or skillet to 325 degrees.
4. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold into corn mixture until well combined.  Drop batter into the oil by tablespoonfuls and fry for 2-3 minutes per side until golden.  Drain on a wire rack set over paper towels.  Sprinkle with coarse salt and serve!

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How To Make Fresh Ricotta

Okay, the first thing I have to say is, hang in there with me for a few minutes.  I know you are thinking, make your own cheese?  REALLY?  Here on this blog where I have said about a million times, it's all about getting in and out of the kitchen in 30 minutes or less?  Has she finally eaten one too many piece of bacon and gone off her rocker?  

Hang in there with me while I promise you these three things:

1. If you can boil water, you can make your own ricotta cheese.

2. It will take you less than 15 minutes from start to finish.

3. It will taste so good, you will wonder why on earth it took you so long
to figure out that you should have been making
your own ricotta cheese for the past hundred years.

4. It will take all your willpower not to stand there next to
your bowl of delicious fresh ricotta
and not eat it all in one fell swoop.

Okay, that's four things, and I have no idea what a fell swoop is.  But you get my drift.  Try it with me just once, and I promise you will be hooked for life.  Here's what you do.

Get out your handy strainer and put it in your sink.  Line it with a little cheesecloth, which you can find in your supermarket, sometimes with the baking stuff and sometimes with the laundry stuff, for mysterious reasons.  I usually fold it into a square that has about 3-4 layers until it looks like this.  This will take you two minutes.

Now take a nice heavy saucepan and pour in 4 cups of whole milk, one cup of buttermilk, and 1/3 cup of heavy cream.  Set it on the stove and put the heat on to medium high and bring it to a boil.  In the early going, you may want to clip a candy thermometer on to the pot so you can watch the temperature, because when the temperature gets to about 185 degrees, the curds (the solid part) will have separated from the whey (the liquid part), and it's time to strain it.  If you don't have thermometer don't fret, because you can pretty much see it happening.  The milk mixture will boil, and it will gradually curdle and separate into the solids (the curds) and the watery looking liquid (the whey).  This will take about 10 minutes...sometimes less.  When it does, take the pot off the burner and reach for your handy slotted spoon, and start scooping out the solids, letting the liquid drain off.  Drop the spoonfuls of solids into your strainer.

I like to sprinkle a little coarse salt onto the cheese every couple of spoonfuls or so.  Once you are done, let it drain for about 2 minutes (if you like your ricotta moist) or 5 minutes (if you like it drier).  You can leave it right in the strainer, or you can be like I was when I first made it and hang it dramatically from your kitchen faucet (see picture above).  Taste it after a few minutes...if it's gotten too dry just stir in a tablespoon or two of milk, and if it's too moist for you, let it keep draining.

Fifteen minutes have now passed, and you have made your own ricotta cheese.

And if you are like me, you will never even LOOK at those ricotta containers in the supermarket again.  

Things you can make with your glorious ricotta include...

Summer Lasagna.  A cool lasagna that includes fresh zucchini, sweet little cherry tomatoes, basil from your back yard...and ricotta.

Zucchini Carpaccio.  Almost as fun to pronounce as it is to eat.  Almost.

Or you can cook up some soft scrambled eggs with fresh chives and during the last minute of cooking, swirl in some ricotta.  Heaven.

Or you can just stand there at your kitchen counter and eat it with the closest available spoon.   I may or may not have done this at times.

Happy fresh ricotta.  No fear!

Easy Fresh Ricotta, adapted from the 101 Cookbooks recipe

• 4 cups whole milk
• One cup buttermilk
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• Coarse salt

1. Line a fine mesh strainer with several folds of cheesecloth and set it in your sink.

2. Combine milk, buttermilk and cream in medium heavy saucepan over medium-high heat.  Bring to a boil until cooking thermometer registers 185 degrees...if you don't have a thermometer, keep an eye on it to see when the curds (the solid white parts) are mostly separated from the whey (the cloudy liquid).  This will take about 10 minutes...stir a couple of times during the boiling process.

3. Remove from heat and using a slotted spot, scoop spoonfuls of the curd into the cheesecloth-lined strainer, sprinkling with a little salt every few spoonfuls or so.

4. Let the ricotta drain for about 5 minutes and then taste to check the consistency.  If you like it drier, then let it drain a little more.  If you like it moister, stir in a tablespoon or two of milk.  This ricotta is best used right away, but will keep for a day or two in the fridge. 

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Buttermilk Bacon Pralines

So, those of you who have been reading this blog for a while know all about my wild love affair with bacon.  The bacon cinnamon rolls.  The bacon pancakes.  The bacon cheddar bagel panini.  I thought I knew what true love was, bacon-wise.

And then one fateful day, I made buttermilk bacon pralines, and the universe shifted...bacon-wise.  As the devoted wife of a Southern man, I've had my share of pralines, those sugary, pecan-filled circles of heaven.  But until I ran across this recipe in Screen Doors and Sweet Tea,  I didn't know what a praline truly could be.  I actually didn't think I ever would or could make a praline.  But the bacon called out to me, and one afternoon I found myself with a candy thermometer, some pecans and a plate of bacon, and there was no turning back.

By the way, a quick word about candy thermometers.  I used to be terrified of them.  I would get to a recipe that looked fabulous, see the words "candy thermometer" and then wistfully turn the page.  And then I bucked up and bought this one, and my life has changed for the better, and believe me...if I can do it, so can you.

Back to the pralines.  I promise you, they are SO simple, and once you make them you will wonder how you lived so long in this life without them.  All you do is boil up some sugar, some buttermilk and a few other things for about 20-30 minutes or until your trusty candy thermometer tells you it is ready.   Then stir in some pecans, some vanilla, some orange peel and the BACON.  Drop it by spoonfuls onto parchment paper or a Silpat, and in about 30 minutes you will be changed forever.  While they are of course the perfect little dessert, the original recipe suggests they are equally perfect with a glass of wine before dinner...and I'm here to tell you that if you try that, you might not even NEED dinner.

 Buttermilk Bacon Pralines, from Screen Doors and Sweet Tea: Recipes and Tales from a Southern Cook 

• 
  
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 teaspoon orange zest
• 4 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled

1. In a heavy deep saucepan, combine the sugars, the buttermil, corn syrup, baking soda and salt.  Cook slowly over medium heat for about 20 minutes, until the mixture reaches 235 on a candy thermometer.

2. Remove from heat and add butter, vanilla, pecans, orange zest and bacon and beat with a wooden spoon until creamy.  Be very careful - this stuff is HOT.

3. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a silicone mat or buttered parchment paper.  Let stand for 30 minutes or until cool and firm.

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Grilled Buttermilk Chicken

Every summer I seem to run into a recipe that I just simply can't stop making over and over again. In the past it has been the Silver Palate's pasta with tomatoes and brie cheese, and fabulous "Way Life Should Be" lobster recipe from New York Times, and one summer many moons ago I made this super-simple raspberry sherbet recipe almost every day. This summer I am fixated on this buttermilk grilled chicken recipe.

It must be something about the buttermilk that makes it taste so wonderful. Buttermilk is a scary, scary thing to me (have you ever taken a really close look at this stuff?), but I have to say that anything I make with it, from this chicken, to fresh ricotta cheese, to my all-time favorite buttermilk fried chicken recipe, turns out great. This recipe calls for mixing up buttermilk, paprika, lots of garlic and some fresh herbs and letting the chicken soak in it all day before grilling it up. It comes out with a delicious flavor that is even better when you eat the leftovers cold for lunch the next day.

One trick that I always use when it comes to grilling chicken: I use kitchen shears to cut the chicken breast halves in half again, so you are left with breast quarters. Much more manageable in terms of picking up and eating...which is what you are going to do with scrumptious summertime grilled chicken, right? Right!

Grilled Buttermilk Chicken, adapted from Real Simple

• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 8 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 6 pounds bone-in chicken breasts, cut into quarters
• Fresh rosemary and thyme
  

1. In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine the buttermilk, garlic, paprika, 1½ teaspoons salt, ¾ teaspoon pepper, and whatever fresh herbs you have around -- I especially like fresh rosemary. Chop them up a little and add them to the marinade.

2. Divide the buttermilk mixture and chicken between 2 large resealable plastic bags. Let marinate in the refrigerator, turning the bags occasionally, for at least 1 hour and up to overnight.

3. Heat grill to medium. Remove the chicken from the marinade (discard the marinade) and grill, covered, turning occasionally, until cooked through, 20 to 30 minutes.

Click here for printable recipe

Mini Pancake Muffins

Do you ever find yourself with something in your fridge that you just can't seem to use up, even though you are pretty sure you have used it in about 17 different things?

That happened to me this week with a quart of buttermilk. The Powers That Be don't sell small containers of buttermilk, and so I had to buy a full quart to use in whatever I was making recently. Maybe it was the crumb cake? Who can remember. Anyway, whatever it was did not call for an entire quart of buttermilk, and so there it was lurking away in my fridge, taking up valuable space that could be used for butter, or bacon, or one my other major food groups.

So when I was browsing through my mile-long list of Things I Want To Make Someday and I saw these cute little pancake muffins, they catapulted right to the head of the line when I saw they called for...you know what. Even better, they come together in about 10 minutes of mixing, they bake for about 12 minutes, and 5 minutes later there you are, eating chocolate chip muffins for brunch because they have the word "pancake" in the title and therefore count as an entree. (Right?)

I found these on the always wonderful Bakerella website (go visit! she is AWESOME!) and followed her recipe pretty closely. I did bake mine a little bit longer than hers, and I used the mini chocolate chips instead of regular. They are sweet and tiny and simply adorable. I followed her advice and loosened them by running a toothpick around the edge while I let them cool - I also flipped them around a bit in the muffin tin...

I didn't let them cool TOO long because the ravenous Southern husband was circling. I'd say about after 5 minutes of cooling, they were on the plate. I served us up about 5 each...

AND...get ready, this is the very best part...I put out little bowls of melted butter and warm syrup to dunk them into for the full pancake-tasting experience. Can you STAND it???

We, um, had seconds. And maybe thirds. And as we speak, the teenager is polishing them off as a before-dinner appetizer.

Okay, go make them. And don't forget to visit www.bakerella.com.

MINI PANCAKE MUFFINS, adapted from Bakerella

1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 egg
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Extra melted butter and maple syrup for dipping

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar in a medium bowl. Sift together with a wire whisk.
3. In another bowl, stir buttermilk, egg, maple syrup and melted butter until just combined.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir with a spoon until combined.
5. Stir in chocolate chips. Reserve a few chips to sprinkle on the tops.
6. Divide batter into well-greased mini muffin tin
   
7. Bake for 12 minutes.
8. Cool in tin for 5-10 minutes. You may want to loosen around the edges with a toothpick to help them pop out.
9. Serve with melted butter and syrup for heavenly dunking.

Click here for printable recipe.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Last weekend I made, oh, the best fried chicken I have ever had in my life, thank you very much and if I do say so myself. And as I always do, I took its picture, nestled on a plate with some cornbread and a fresh tomato basil salad, and was all set to share that with you, my wonderful blog-reading friends.

Then I looked at the picture.

And I looked at it again, and I thought, well, that's not so bad. I showed it to my fried chicken-loving Southern husband, who looks at all my food pictures and says exactly the same thing: "That's beautiful! It could be in a magazine!"

He looked at this one said, "that's nice, honey."

Uh-oh.

Because my rule is, if I don't have a nice picture of it, it doesn't go up on the blog. I considered re-shooting it, but first I went online to look at other pictures of fried chicken, and realized that there has never been a nice picture of fried chicken taken in the history of the world. Well, maybe there are nice chicken leg pictures, but not chicken breasts, which is what I made. I felt vindicated. (and for all of you who know the existence of lovely fried chicken breast pictures, don't tell me. This is my story and I am sticking to it.)

So I resigned myself to no fried chicken blog post, which made me slightly sad because it was so GOOD, but I am resilient and I moved on...and then the emails started coming. Because yes, I had Twittered and Facebooked that I was making buttermilk fried chicken, and you guys wanted to know where the goods were.

So I thought, I will be clever and take some sort of chicken picture. Surely I have something resembling a chicken in the house. And guess what, right there in my little kitchen studio, there was my hammered metal chicken pictured above. Bingo! All set for the post.

Oh wait -- I also seem to have chicken salt and pepper shakers.




Um, and a giant bent iron chicken next to my fireplace.




Oh dear. I hadn't realized. I have surrounded my poor unsuspecting family with chickens.




Now, THIS one was a GIFT.
At this point I decided to start NOT looking for any more chickens in my house, and just get on with the recipe posting. So for all of you who have been so patient, here is the recipe for Buttermilk Fried Chicken. I promise you it is worth the wait. And if you ever come to visit me, whatever you do, please don't bring me a chicken. I obviously have poultry issues.

BUTTERMILK FRIED CHICKEN, adapted from Cooks Illustrated

• 1 cup kosher salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 3 heads of garlic, cloves separated
• 3 crumbled bay leaves
• 2 quarts buttermilk
• 1 whole chicken, cut into pieces. Breasts should be cut in quarters. I used all chicken breasts myself, but the original recipe calls for a whole chicken. Up to you.
• 4 cups flour
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 cups peanut oil

1. Combine salt, sugar, paprika, garlic and bay leaves in a large ziplock bag. Using a mallet, smash garlic into salt mixture thoroughly. Pour mixture into large bowl and add 7 cups of buttermilk. Stir until salt is dissolved, immerse chicken and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

2. Remove chicken from buttermilk brine and shake off excess. Place in single layer on wire rack set over rimmed baking sheet. Refrigerate uncovered for 2 hours.

3. Put flour in shallow dish. Beat egg, baking powder, baking soda in medium bowl, stir in remaining cup of buttermilk. Working in batches of three, drop chicken in flour and shake pan to coat. Using tongs, dip chicken in egg mixture and then coat in flour again. Return to wire rack.

4. Heat oil to 375 degrees (using instant read or candy thermometer) in large Dutch oven. Place chicken pieces skin side down in hot oil. Don't crowd chicken -- you will probably have to work in batches. Fry until golden brown on the bottom, about 6-8 minutes. Turn over and continue to fry until second side is golden, another 6-8 minutes.

5. Using tongs, transfer cooked chicken to paper towel-lined plate and drain for 2 minutes. Transfer to wire rack placed on baking sheet and keep warm in 200 degree oven while remaining chicken is fried.

6. Serve with any of the following: mashed potatoes, cornbread, corn on the cob, green beans, tomato salad, biscuits...you get the idea. And by the way, if you think this chicken is heavenly right out of the frying pan, just wait until you have a cold piece for lunch the next day. Life doesn't get too much better.

I have no idea how this got into my kitchen.

Cluck, cluck.