How to make Bill Granger’s favourite brunch: Sweetcorn fritters with Tex-Mex sides
He was known as the king of brunch. And this was the dish that captured Bill Granger’s heart.
“Tex-Mex was huge around the time we opened bills in 1993,” Bill Granger wrote in his 2020 cookbook Australian Food. “Tinned chipotles were flavour of the month, and Navajo blankets were being dragged down every fashionable catwalk. This was in the days before we worried about cultural appropriation, and we were living in a Santa Fe fantasy world.”
These sweetcorn fritters with roast tomatoes, bacon and avocado salsa were Granger’s nod to that, but they outlived the phase and are still on the menu. With its combination of crunch and big flavours, this was his favourite breakfast dish.
Ingredients
ROAST TOMATOES
4 ripe roma tomatoes
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
AVOCADO SALSA
1 large avocado, diced
1½ tomatoes, deseeded and diced
2 tbsp chopped coriander
2 tbsp lemon or lime juice
2 tbsp finely chopped spring onion or red onion
1 dash Tabasco sauce, optional
SWEETCORN FRITTERS
125g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp paprika
1 tbsp sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
100ml milk
2 corn cobs
½ capsicum, diced
2 spring onions, sliced
1 large handful mixed chopped coriander and parsley
4 tbsp light-flavoured oil, for frying
TO SERVE
baby spinach or rocket
4 grilled bacon rashers
extra virgin olive oil to drizzle, optional
Method
Step 1
To make the roast tomatoes, preheat the oven to 160C fan-forced (180C conventional). Place the tomatoes on a baking tray, cut side up, and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle liberally with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Roast in the oven for 40 minutes.
Step 2
To make the avocado salsa, gently toss together all the ingredients and season with salt and pepper.
Step 3
To make the fritters, sift the flour, baking powder, salt and paprika into a large bowl, stir in the sugar and make a well in the centre. Mix together the eggs and milk and pour slowly into the well in the dry ingredients, whisking to a smooth, lump-free batter. The batter will be quite stiff.
Step 4
Slice the kernels off the corn cobs and place the corn, capsicum, spring onions and herbs in a mixing bowl. Add just enough batter to lightly bind them. (Any leftover batter can be kept in the fridge for 3 days; do not mix with the corn until you are ready to cook.)
Step 5
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large frying pan over medium heat and drop in 2 tablespoons of batter per fritter, cooking 4 fritters at a time. Cook for 2 minutes, or until the undersides are golden. Turn and cook the other side. Transfer to a plate and keep warm while cooking the rest.
Step 6
Serve the fritters with roast tomato halves, avocado salsa, a little spinach or rocket and a rasher of bacon for each person. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil if you like.
This is an edited extract from Australian Food by Bill Granger, photography by Mikkel Vang. Murdoch Books RRP $49.99.
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