Foodie Friday Shrimp Corn Fritters

With fairs and festivals cancelled, you can get your summer-time fried fix with tasty fritters.

Shrimp Corn Fritters (Prep. time about an hour. Less, if you don’t have to peel the shrimp )

½ lb. raw shrimp

½ jalapeno pepper, finely diced

2 slices of white bread, crusts cut off and cut into small cubes

1Tb. mayonnaise

4 oz. (1/2 C.) corn kernels, rough chop (especially good if the corn is left-over roasted on the cob)

¼ C. corn meal

2 C. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

2 Tb. sugar

a pinch of salt & pepper

1 Tb.Old Bay Seasoning

¼ C. milk

vegetable oil for frying

Sauce:

2 Tb. mayonnaise

2 Tb. sour cream

2 Tb. hot sauce

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

In a sauté pan, partially cook the shrimp in a little olive oil until they just start to turn pink and remove from the pan. Add the diced bread and jalapeno to the pan, off the heat to allow the bread to absorb some of the oil and the jalapeno to partially cook. Let the shrimp cool, peel and roughly chop.  In a medium bowl, mix the corn meal, half the flour, baking soda, sugar and milk to make a medium-thin corn batter. In a small mixing bowl, gently stir together the shrimp, 1 Tb. mayonnaise, jalapeno pepper, corn, salt, pepper and Old Bay Seasoning until the mixture just holds together. (add small amounts of mayo if needed to bring the mixture together.) Heat the vegetable oil in a medium sauce pan to 365 degrees. Put the rest of the flour on a plate. Stir in a little salt and pepper.  Form the shrimp mixture into individual balls about the size of ping-pong balls.  Roll the balls in the flour then gently lower into the corn batter to coat.  Carefully place into the hot oil and cook until golden brown, about 1-2 minutes.  Remove to paper towels to drain.

Mix the 2 Tb. mayonnaise, sour cream, hot sauce and cayenne pepper (to taste) in a serving bowl for the dipping sauce (also tasty with chips, onion rings (similar to a certain famous fast-food 'King's' sauce, chicken or fish).

The fritters could also be made with lump crab.