Do you want to hear a story about how some recipes come to be? One of my assigned recipes was for corn fritters. So I did my homework and research. I found a great corn fritter recipe flitting about online. It's been adapted and twisted this way and that. It was the base for my recipe, but mine is very different and I'll tell you why. It all comes down to the fact that I have a great fear of frying. A few years back when the landlord replaced my stove, he installed one with no ventilation. So frying means the whole apartment smells like a fast food hut. Sure, I open the windows but it's not the same as having a true ventilation system built in. Frankly I avoid frying at all costs. But in this case I had to fry.
I think in my anxiety about having to fry the fritters, I messed up on the basic recipe. I added too much of one ingredient and used the wrong version of another ingredient. I made quite a few changes. Let's just say some of the changes were more intentional than others! But the result? Brilliant. It was terrific from the very first go.
The accompanying dip is a sexy, smoky, honey number that is made from only three ingredients. I will be making versions of it for a long time to come, even for food that isn't fried. I think it would be great with slices of fresh apples. I don't know why it pleases me so much when a recipe is so simple, but it does. It's like some amazing alchemy--just one, two, three and poof! Great food.
Note: I wish I could share all my recipes with you here, but they belong to my client/publisher. I will however let you know when the book comes out.