CORN FRITTERS WITH CRISPY BACON, ROASTED TOMATOES & AVOCADO SALSA

Corn Fritters for breakfast is a cherished event in our house. We both love this dish.... ALOT. I would go so far as to say this is my favourite breakfast of all time. And looking around the interwebs it looks like I'm not the only one.

When we lived in Sydney we were frequent visitors to Bill Granger's restaurants where this dish was one of the stars. In London I've been slowly perfecting it, doing my very best to faithfully recreate each element. I used the Corn Fritters with avocado salsa recipe in bills open kitchen as the base. However in his restaurant Bill also serves his corn fritters / avocado salsa with crispy grilled bacon, oven roasted tomatoes and fresh spinach. These elements really make the dish complete for me (but of course this a fantastic vegetarian dish sans Bacon).

So here is my homage to Bill Granger and his wonderful Corn Fritters... with crispy bacon, oven roasted tomatoes, baby spinach and spicy avocado salsa.   

Ingredients
525 g fresh corn kernels cut from 3 large corn cobs (or you can substitute with tinned sweet corn kernels) 
1 small red onion chopped
2 Eggs
Handful of chopped coriander leaves
125 g Plain Flour
1 teaspoon Baking powder
Sea salt
Freshly ground Black pepper
Vegetable oil for frying
200g smoked back bacon 
100g Baby spinach leaves
Roasted tomatoes (see below)
Avocado salsa (see below)

Roasted tomatoes 
4 small tomatoes (preferably Roma), halved
Generous drizzle extra-virgin olive oil
Pinch of dried mixed herbs (optional)
Sea salt
Freshly ground Black Pepper

Avocado salsa
2 ripe Avocados stones removed and diced
Handful of chopped coriander leaves
2 tablespoons Lemon Juice or Lime juice
2 tablespoons finely chopped spring onion
1 Tomato quartered, seeded and finely sliced
1 tsp chilli paste (optional)
Sea salt
Freshly ground Black pepper 

Method
Tomatoes& Bacon

Start with the tomatoes: Preheat the oven to 180°C. Cut each tomato in half lengthwise. Place on a roasting tray, cut side up. Drizzle with olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper (and tiny pinch of dried herbs if you fancy). Roast for 20-30 minutes. For the final 10 mins - move the tomatoes to bottom rack and turn the grill on. Lay out your rashers of bacon (suggest 2 per person) onto a grilling rack. Grill until crisp and crunchy turning regularly. Watch carefully to ensure bacon doesnt burn. Ideally bacon should be stiff and can practically be snapped like a biscuit. Remove both bacon and tomatoes and put aside.  Turn oven down to 120°C (for keeping Corn fritters warm whilst cooking). 

Corn Fritters

Place half of the corn kernels and the onion, eggs, coriander, flour, baking powder, salt and pepper in a food processor (or in a bowl with hand held whizzer) and process until combined. This is an important step! Whizzing the corn up in this way gives the binding agents a distinct corn flavour which I find lacking in other fritters which do not do this. I believe this is one of the secrets that make Bill's fritters so damn good! Place in a large bowl, add the remaining corn and stir to combine.
Heat 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium to high heat. When the oil is hot, drop 2 heaped tablespoons of mixture per sweetcorn cake into the pan and cook in batches of three for 1 minute each side.
Drain on paper towels and keep warm in the oven while you are making the rest of the cakes. Serve with the avocado salsa. 

Avocado salsa
Place all the ingredients in a bowl and stir very gently to combine. Season well. 

To serve
Create stacks of the various elements in any combination you wish (see picture above). Place a fritter on the plate, then any combination of bacon, spinach, tomatoes and other fritters that your heart desires. Top with avocado salsa and drizzle with olive oil.

YUM!
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