Grilled Corn and Crab Fritters with Ricotta, Cherry Tomatoes and Basil

Apparently today is the first day back at school for all the kids and teachers in our area, and while I should be solemn and feeling their pain of summer being over, I can’t help but get this Grinch-like smile on my face. The kid in me is still kind of upset over not having summer breaks anymore, so I’m all, hahahahahahaha, you have to go back to SCHOOL?!

I’m so mean. And clearly, very mature.

In all seriousness though, what was once a sign of summer’s end, is now just a reminder that I need to relish what IS left of the fleeting summer, because even though it’s “over” for students and teachers, we still have a good month and a half left before fall technically begins.

There will still be blistering hot days. There will still be pool lounging. There will still be barbecues. Family walks. Patio siiting. People watching. And plenty of meals like this one.

It’s sad that so many people are throwing in the towel and declaring summer officially over, I mean, we just started getting the perfect summer produce in at the grocery store. The tomatoes are seriously ripe and plentiful. The berries are plump (and cheap!). The peaches are juicy. The corn is sweet. Everything is perfect.

To me, this is the ultimate summer meal, one that also happens to utilize two of my (and anyone else that loves food) favorite in-season savory produce items – sweet corn and tomatoes.

I’ve literally been inhaling tomatoes for the last month. On salads. Straight from the vine. Roasted. In pastas. Pretty much any way you can think of, but I’ve yet to do anything with corn besides eat it straight from the cob – delicious, but somewhat boring after doing so over and over and over.

Since fritters have been on my mind for some time now, what better way to end my corn rut than in a crispy fried little package. And while I wouldn’t normally recommend masking fresh corn in something fried, these are actually just lightly fried and have very little flour which totally lets the corn shine through. And let’s be serious, anything with corn and crab that’s fried will be good.

Although not necessary, but totally encouraged, the fritters are topped with a generous dollop of creamy ricotta and covered in excessive amounts of extra grilled corn, halved cherry tomatoes (from our garden!), lump crab meat and fresh basil (also from our garden).

Eat up!