Crab Fritters and Avocado Salsa!

*I am posting this out of turn, but I just couldn't wait to put it up here!*

Crab Fritters with Avocado Salsa

Organic Seasonal Cookbook by Liz Franklin – pg. 79

Autumn - Serves 4

Ingredients:

Crab Fritters:

• 2 cups lightly cooked corn kernels
• scant ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 10 ½ oz cooked white crabmeat
• 1 small bunch fresh parsley, chopped
• 3-4 tbsp grapeseed oil (or any other oil that has a high smoke point)
• salt and pepper
• lime wedges, for serving

Avocado Salsa:

• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 firm but ripe avocado
• 1 firm but ripe mango
• 4 firm but ripe tomatoes
• juice and finely grated rind of 2 limes
• 1 large bunch of fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions:

1. First make the salsa. Put the onion in a bowl. Remove the stalks and seeds from the bell peppers, and cut the flesh into ½ inch dice. Add to the onion. Peel the avocado and mango, then remove the pits and cut the flesh into ½ inch dice and add to the other ingredients. Stir in the lime juice and rind and cilantro. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
2. Put the corn kernels, flour, and eggs in a separate bowl and stir until well mixed. Lightly fold in the crabmeat and parsley, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Heat the oil in a large skilled over medium-high-heat. Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the hot oil and cook in batches for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until crips and golden. Remove and drain on paper towels. Serve immediately with the salsa and serve with the lime wedges.

Variation:

For salsa with a little more bite, add a small finely chopped red chile or a shake or two of Tabasco sauce.

Tips:

• Tossing the ingredients for the salsa into a food processor is much faster, I recommend this when there are hungry bellies waiting for dinner.
• Purchase a fruit juicer, the glass kind that has the reservoir to catch the juice - juice by hand, not by machine. You will get so much more juice than if you squeeze the limes.
• Do half of the parsley and see how much it takes up in the batter, add little by little after that. I had too much parsley from one bunch, so just be aware.
• Please do not use Olive Oil as your frying Oil... or canola or vegetable for that matter. Best try to use grapeseed, sunflower, safflower, or any other oil that has a high "smoke point" - we have no need to make our food carcinogenic. 
• I used a tablespoon measuring spoon to scoop my batter and plop it into the pan. With a large sautee pan you can plop about 4-5 at a time to fry. That makes the process much faster... particularly useful, again, if you have hungry bellies waiting. The tablespoon was a perfect size, squishing it down to be more flat once it was in the pan.
• Eat!!

With Love,

~Birdie