‘Not more corn fritters’, I hear you say.  I like corn fritters and, as we had ricotta in the fridge, I was on the look out for a recipe that would use it up.  I went into eatyourbooks and searched ‘ricotta’.  This recipe took my fancy.

They are more like corn pikelets, if you can imagine such a thing.   Therefore, if you like corn fritters and are partial to pikelets, this recipe may be for you.  We enjoyed them.

Make your own pesto or use a brand you know and love.  I am no pesto fan but this one was a shocker. Never again.  It is destined for that big pot I use to make my puppies’ dinner.  They are not fussy about the quality of their pesto.  In fact, they love whatever goes into the pot.  Last week, it was half a jar of chilli jam.

The recipe is by Louise Pickford.  It appeared in the Australian Delicious magazine, February 2010.  It serves 4.

Ingredients:

• 250g corn kernels
• ¾ cup buttermilk
•  2 eggs, lightly beaten
• ½ cup ricotta
• 1 cup (150g) self raising flour
• 2 tbs* chopped chives

* These are 20 mls tablespoons

To serve:

• 1 punnet of cherry tomatoes (200-250g), a little olive oil, salt and pepper
• pesto
• basil leaves (As I am not a basil fan, the use of pesto was as far as I was willing to go but you are supposed to sprinkle fresh basil leaves on top.)

For the tomatoes:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Put the cherry tomatoes in an oven proof dish, sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Bake until the skin begins to wrinkle and the tomatoes begin to collapse – about 20 minutes.

For the fritters:

1. Beat the buttermilk, eggs, ricotta and flour together in a bowl.  Season with salt and pepper.
2. Stir in the corn kernel and chives.
3. Heat a little oil in a frying pan
4. Use ⅓ cup of batter for each fritter and cook 2 or 3 at a time.
5. Cook until brown then flip and brown the other side.  Don’t have the heat too high because you want the batter to cook.
6. To serve, put a fritter on a plate and top with tomatoes, pesto and torn basil leaves.