Salmon and Corn Fritter Balls - as seen on TGFTR
Our second win!! We may have had slow ticket times on The Great Food Truck Race: Alaska, but we made delicious food. In fact, challenge-winning food!
After elimination #2, the remaining teams drove the 4 hours to the Homer spit, which is a 4.5 mile land mass that juts out into the Kachemak Bay. You can see the Homer Harbor on the right.
Early in the morning we hit the water with Captain Josh of Big Butt Charters and his gorgeous boat dog, Schooner, in search of some of the best seafood Alaska has to offer. None of the Meatball Mamas had ever fished before, so this was the perfect introduction. Talk about jumping in with both feet!
Before we jumped onto our boats, the remaining teams lined up to receive our challenge of the day from our host, Chef Tyler Florence. Yes, that’s ice on the water!
It was super choppy and cold out on Captain Josh’s 42’ fishing boat, but I remained topside out in the open taking in the whole experience. And what an experience it was! Several miles out we found our spot and cast our lines in hopes of being the first team to catch a fish. Well, we weren’t first, but we landed a huge salmon that was traded in for additional seed money for the day. What an awesome challenge!
Flora caught a beautiful king salmon, which she aptly named Meatball. Well done Mama!!
Once we got back on the hard, all the teams were given the challenge of incorporating a beautiful fillet of Alaskan King Salmon into a dish of our choice. We decided to make fritter balls stuffed with huge chunks of delicious, freshly-caught salmon and sweet corn, which topped parmesan garlic fries with a sprinkling of fresh arugula and spring onion. It was…is delicious!!
Chef Matt Masera, aka “The Hammer”, was the judge for this, the third, tasting challenge. And, I must say, he has very good taste ;)
We were ecstatic to hear that he chose our dish for the win. This meant that we had immunity and were safe for the third elimination.
Our challenge-winning dish, looked something like this. On the truck we used frozen fries from the grocery store. To save time you can use these in place of the potato wedges. Just garnish them with garlic oil and parmesan once they come out of the oven.
Yield: 4 large or 6 small servings
Garlic Parmesan Potato Wedges
12 oz red potatoes
2 Tbsp evoo
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp kosher salt
4 scallions
2 oz arugula
Confit Garlic oil or good evoo – to drizzle
Parmesan – to sprinkle
Sour Cream
8 oz sour cream
2 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp canned chipotle chili – just the sauce, not the whole pepper
1 tsp kosher salt
Fritters
32 oz vegetable oil – for frying
½ cup ap flour
½ tsp sugar
½ tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp kosher salt
4 – 6 grinds of black pepper
1 cup frozen corn – thawed
¼ cup 2% milk
1 egg
¼ cup scallions – sliced 1/8” thick
¼ cup red bell pepper – finely chopped
1/3 cup grated aged white cheddar
8 oz salmon – remove skin, cut into ½” cubes
For the Potatoes
1. Preheat oven to 400F. Preheat your vegetable oil in a medium pot with high sides to 365F over medium-high heat.
2. Cut potatoes into wedges and toss with evoo, garlic powder, onion powder, and kosher salt. You should get 8 – 12 wedges from each potato, depending on how large they are. Lay out in one layer on a silicone/parchment-lined sheet tray and bake for 30-35 minutes until they are fork tender and are starting to turn golden.
For the Sour Cream
1. In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients. Set aside.
For the Fritters
1. While oil is heating, combine the rest of the fritter ingredients in a large bowl.
2. When the oil is ready, gently drop 1 Tbsp of batter in oil, working with 3-4 fritters at a time. Keep in mind that they will puff up as they cook. Also, keep an eye on the temperature of the oil and try to keep it between 350F and 365F.
3. Fry fritters for 3 – 4 minutes, turning a couple of times to ensure even cooking, then remove them from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain them on several sheets of paper towels.
Another way to keep your fritters from getting soggy is to drain them on a cooling rack placed in a sheet tray. The air circulates and keeps the fritters crisp, while any residual oil drips down into the sheet tray.
To Assemble
1. Place potatoes on the plate and top with a drizzle of garlic oil and grated parmesan. Top with a few scallions and a small handful of arugula. Place 3-4 fritters on top and sprinkle with more parmesan and a drizzle of Chipotle Lime Sour Cream. Enjoy immediately!
