Apple Fritters -- The Corn Came From Twenty Feet Away

I called Jen Tuesday instead of waiting for the weekend. That was a different thing for me — initiating, rather than receiving. I'm not sure what I was hoping would happen. Maybe I thought I could close the gap I'd felt opening. Maybe I just missed her voice.

We talked for forty minutes. It was fine. She was grading summer school papers and also half-watching a movie, which meant the conversation was comfortable and undemanding. She told me about a student who'd written an essay about her grandmother's tamale recipe, how it had made Jen cry during grading. I told her that was the right response to that kind of essay. She agreed.

The part I've been sitting with is what she said near the end. She said: You know you can tell me things, right? You don't have to be okay all the time. I said I knew. She said: I'm not sure you do. That was the honest version of what she meant, and I respect her for saying it. I just didn't know what to say back that wasn't a deflection.

Farrier work has slowed slightly — midsummer lull before the fall push. I've been using the time to get back to a training certification I started two winters ago and never finished. Therapeutic shoeing, primarily for horses with laminitis or navicular disease. The coursework is dense and the testing is serious and I've been working through it an hour at a time in the evenings.

Made corn fritters this week with the sweet corn from the garden, which is finally ready. Colleen plants more than we can eat on purpose — she always says the excess is the point, that abundance is a choice you make in the spring. The fritters are simple: grated corn, a little flour, egg, salt, green onion, pan-fried in butter. We had them with poached eggs for dinner one night and I thought about how a meal that costs almost nothing can still taste like the best thing you've eaten in a week. Sometimes it just matters that the corn came from twenty feet away and someone who loves you planted it.

The corn fritters Colleen and I had that night got me thinking about what fritters really are — the simplest possible act of taking something good and making it a little better. Apple fritters follow the same logic: nothing precious, nothing complicated, just fruit and batter and heat. I’ve been making these in the fall when the garden winds down, but after that dinner with poached eggs and sweet corn, I wanted to write down a version worth returning to — something with the same unpretentious quality, the kind of food that doesn’t ask anything of you except that you pay attention while you eat it.

Apple Fritters

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 medium apples, peeled, cored, and diced (about 2 cups)
• Vegetable oil, for frying
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2–3 tablespoons milk (for glaze)

Instructions

1. Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt until evenly combined.
2. Mix the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, then whisk in the milk and vanilla extract.
3. Combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined — do not overmix. Fold in the diced apples gently.
4. Heat the oil. Pour about 2 inches of vegetable oil into a heavy-bottomed pot or deep skillet and heat over medium to 375°F. Use a thermometer if you have one; the oil is ready when a small drop of batter sizzles immediately on contact.
5. Fry in batches. Drop heaping spoonfuls of batter (about 1/4 cup each) into the hot oil. Fry 3 to 4 fritters at a time, turning once, until deep golden brown on both sides, about 3–4 minutes per side. Do not crowd the pot.
6. Drain. Remove fritters with a slotted spoon and set on a wire rack or paper-towel-lined plate to drain.
7. Make the glaze. Whisk together the powdered sugar and milk until smooth and pourable. Drizzle over warm fritters before serving.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 340 | Protein: 7g | Fat: 11g | Carbs: 54g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 290mg