Corn Cakes

These are the pancakes I refrained from making a few posts ago when I was trying to use up caviar.

While I find Emeril highly entertaining, and fell asleep to his show every night for a few years before discovering The Daily Show, I very rarely make any of his recipes.  I'm not into Southern cuisine.  But the picture of these looked really good, and I just omitted the Bam spice blend.

You kind of need it.  I'm not saying these are tasteless, they're just more savory than I was expecting.  You really taste the masa flour, and I was looking forward to a sweet corn taste.  If I make this again, I'm going to make up the cornmeal/masa/flour volume with half cornmeal and half flour, and double the amount of corn.

I made these dollar-pancake sized so I could have three or four as a side dish.  You only need to make the tiny ones in the original recipe if you're making the hors d'oeuvre.  And you do get a lot out of the recipe.  The half-batch I'm posting here made five side-dish servings.

1 Tb olive oil
1/2 C corn kernels
1 Tb minced shallot
1/2 tsp salt
dash of pepper
1 egg
1/2 C cream
1/4 C + 2 Tb cornmeal
1/4 C flour
*1/4 C masa harina
1 tsp baking powder
dash of cayenne pepper
1/4 C + 2 Tb water
oil for pan

1.  Sauté corn and shallot in olive oil until soft and season with salt and pepper.  Set aside to cool.

2.  Beat together egg and cream.  Separately, sift together cornmeal, flour, masa, baking powder, and cayenne pepper.  Add cream mixture to flour and combine.  Then add corn mixture.

3.  Gradually add water until a batter forms.  Stop when it is thin enough for your tastes.

4.  Heat a griddle over medium-high heat.  Lightly oil, because the pancakes are going to absorb whatever you put on there.  Spoon out desired amount of batter.  When top sets, flip to cook other side. Remove to paper towel lined platter and keep warm until ready to serve.  Can be served by themselves or with various savory toppings.

Serves 5-6 as a side, 12 or more as an hors d'oeuvre

Difficulty rating  π