Fritterizing With Your Produce

My neighbor and contributor Jim Dixon is a dedicated fritterer. No, he doesn't waste hours of his day on Twitter or Facebook like I do. His time is spent frying up little cakes in oil, made from anything that comes from his (vast) garden. I'm pleased to say he's also started a blog of his own at Real Good Food that will have some of his (excellent) restaurant reviews and more recipes, so check it out!

A friend who’s grown a lot of tomatoes says it’s time to pick any still on your vines. Let them ripen inside for the next couple of weeks, make sauce, or roast and freeze for the winter. I’ll be harvesting my ironically named Early Girls in October.

Roasted Tomato Fritters

I had some of those roasted tomatoes left over from last week, and since I believe that you can make almost anything better through fritterizing, that’s what I did.

Combine several coarsely chopped roasted tomatoes (about a cup’s worth) with an egg, diced shallot, good sized dollop of ricotta, a pinch of sea salt, and maybe a half cup of breadcrumbs, enough to absorb most of the moisture in the mix.

Use a couple of soup spoons to form walnut-sized lumps that you drop into a thin layer of hot olive oil. Cook over medium high for a few minutes, then gently flip and cook a bit longer until lightly browned on both sides.