It’s true that the soft opening at Downtown Market Co. has been softer than typical.
As covered in this week’s A la Carte story and a previous blog post, Nora LaBrocca has been quietly stocking her East Main Street store since May in anticipation of a big splash. It’s coming tomorrow in the form of the Downtown Throwdown with a Saturday encore of tidbits for tasting.
If you haven’t attended the Throwdown, also the topic of a previous post, it won’t get any sweeter than tomorrow’s sweet corn. The first 100 people to visit participating locations can taste a special sweet-corn dish prepared by Medford restaurants free of charge.
LaBrocca conceived the event as a promotion for downtown businesses in the style of several popular formats for food competitions. Think “Iron Chef America” for its secret ingredient and judging criteria applied to appetizers consumed by crowds in the vein of “Top Chef.” The title, of course, is borrowed from Bobby Flay’s Food Network show.
A career in design has certainly given LaBrocca the edge in presentation, landing her the win at a majority of Throwdowns. But given my experience with her cuisine, she brings the cooking chops, too. Next week, she’ll put it to the test on a larger scale by serving prepared food for take-away or sit-down dining at Downtown Market. I hope she has more plans for showcasing sweet corn at lunchtime.
But all it takes to wow a crowd with this summer staple is a couple of compound butters. For a dinner party several weeks ago, I roasted three heads of garlic from my garden and combined the cloves with two sticks of softened butter in the food processor. Joining it was a compound butter of minced, fresh chilies from the garden and grated zest from two limes.
Because compound butters keep for weeks in the refrigerator, we’re still enjoying them on roasted fish and potatoes, for sauteing scallops with prosciutto, stirred into pastas and simply slathered onto bread.
I’ve been looking for an occasion, though, to prepare these fritters for my family and a few corn-loving friends. Throwdown, anyone?
Cheesy Corn Fritters
1 1⁄2 cups flour
1⁄2 cup coarse cornmeal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1⁄4 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon saffron threads soaked in 2 tablespoons water
1 cup buttermilk
1⁄2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1⁄4 cup butter, melted
1 1⁄2 cups fresh, whole kernel corn
Vegetable oil, for deep-frying
Fleur de sel or other specialty salt, for garnish (optional)
Stir together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt and sugar.
Combine the eggs, buttermilk and saffron. Fold in dry ingredients. Stir in the melted butter, cheese and corn.
Meanwhile, heat the vegetable oil until very hot. Drop fritter mixture into hot oil by tablespoons, being careful not to spatter. Deep-fry about 5 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm, sprinkled with salt, if desired.
Makes 30 to 36 fritters.
— Recipe from the Contra Costa Times, courtesy of San Francisco chef Joey Altman.
