Summer Time Fish Fry

This year for the Fourth of July we decided to do a beach themed Summer Time Fish Fry & Southwestern Corn Fritters on the patio.

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This summer I have to admit I was longing for the beach, so I decided I would bring a little bit of the beach back home with us, by way of a beach themed Summer Time Fish Fry for the Fourth of July. We decided since the sun does not seem to set until 9 o’clock now, thanks to daylight saving time, we would move our 9 Ft Patio Umbrella with push button tilt and crank, from Abba Patios up to the dining table. Especially now since we have another larger umbrella, that covers the entire fireplace sitting space which can be seen in our Cozy Midnight Garden post.

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 You may remember I  featured it a few weeks ago on 5 Ways to Refresh your Patio for Summer.  Well let me just reiterate what a great investment piece this is, as we dumped the water out of the base and easily moved it to the sundeck 2 flights up. Now we have shade all afternoon with the easy tilt angle settings.If you love my market style umbrella seen above in beige, and available in many other varieties along with the umbrella base, you can pick you one up from Abba Patio. Plus you can also save 10% OFF everything site wide with my special code of: Jenn10 while you are there, so be sure to check the whole site out, they have lots of great things! Including a great selection of outdoor patio and garden decor to get you ready for summer.

I went with a very low key easy going beach vibe. Since our patio cushions are already blue they are very easy to match for all occasions. I get asked all the time about these Welcome Y’all pillows and this is my best lead for currently at the link as they are always hard to track down, but so cute for any southern decor  year round. The patio table centerpiece is the same umbrella holder I previously created in DIY a Table Top Umbrella Holder, this year I have a selection of creeping Jenny which is a perennial and continues to come back from year to year pared with red Begonias and some purple petunias, this season. I added in the sea glass colored buoys for a fun nautical effect. For the table place settings I went with my driftwood chargers and layered the Gingham Blue plaid plates I purchased for Easter along with my new patio plates purchased to match my outdoor rug from Wayfair. I found the cute yellow napkin rings while on a the antiquing trip to Waco last fall and paired them with my Lemon Thyme napkins from last summer’s tablescape.I really wanted to tell you where all the pieces came from on this table since nothing is really new, with the exception of the salad plates. Everything here has been reworked and re-imagined from my existing decor pieces. Which is really the point of purchasing classic pieces that will mix and match, over the years and serve you well throughout the seasons. Which is my mantra of ” Good Design Never Goes Out Style”.So let’s take a second to talk about the refreshments. It is hot outside, so ice cold drinks will be a priority. For this reason you will want to make sure that you have plenty of beverages and adequate water as well. Since we are beach themed and doing seafood, I went with a basic lemon water in a large refillable carafe on the table. For the adult beverage I decided to roll the bar cart out for an appearance on the deck. That is probably the handiest part of a bar cart, that they can be set and travel to other locations, on the same floor. My honest thoughts on bar carts are choose them wisely. Unless you have an elevator or they have heavy duty wheels, they are not really able to travel many places in your home. However, this particular bar cart is collapsible, so it folds down easily, like a luggage cart, to move among floors or even pack up to travel to the vacation home. It is also great if you have pool or outdoor kitchen area located on separate level, since it so easy to transport up and down stairs.  Pro Tip- Always look for items that can pull double duty in places, while you may love a trendy bar cart with cool shapes and lines you may be stuck with it in one location; or find that it is difficult to relocate into your spaces. Which limits your actual usage of the item, making it less effective overall. So weigh out pretty verses functional.

Today on the bar cart we have the fixings for an easy Lemony Spritzer which is super easy to make, and easy to drink in hot weather.

• 1 cup Homemade Lemonade (see my recipe here)
• 1 cup White Wine or Sparkling Wine like Prosecco
• 3 oz Vodka
• Shake with Ice and Serve with a fresh lemon slice

I was actually inspired to do this Fish Fry around Father’s Day to reminisced about going fishing with my dad before he passed. Such great memories, as he taught my nephews how cast a pole and bait a hook. Of course my grandpa use to take us all deep sea fishing as kids in Florida, too. He own his boat and a slew of crab traps hidden along the Florida coast. He did allegedly leave my entire family on a moving sandbar in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, to clam dig while being circled by sharks, but that was before I was born, so it is all hearsay, lol! Grandpa brought in all kinds of stuff out fresh out of the Atlantic, both legal and illegal back in the day, but that was just how grandpa rolled, pretty sure you can not really do that stuff now as it frowned upon.  Then we have whole bunch of tug boat captains on Ron’s side of the family so there was no shortage of boating and fishing experience there. I also like to think about how much our families enjoyed a good old fashioned Fish Fry at our local church, good o’ Bethesda Methodist y’all. My daddy loved their catfish, but honestly his favorite any light white fish is perfect for a fish fry, like flounder, trout, bass, or cod. Today I am using a flounder for the fried fish which we did in the Air Fryer for a healthier option. We also grilled up a little Lemon Pepper Tilapia on a Himalayan salt block in the Big Green Egg for a secondary non breaded or gluten free option. The Himalayan salt block is amazing on the Egg and a great option when smoking, we used it many times for a bourbon glazed Salmon too, and it is delicious. Instead of traditional homemade hush puppies, I did a few southwestern corn fritters which are a perfect side for any seafood feast. These also make a great appetizers as well, served with dips or spreads. Try paring with an avocado ranch dip, homemade guacamole or even a fresh pico de gallo for spicy kick. They are also great with chili too, so keep this in mind for the fall when you start you chili cook off’s as a dipper for my Hearty Red Bean & Beef Chili or Southwestern Chicken Chili.

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5 from 2 votes

Southwestern Corn Fritters

Course Appetizer, Side Dish

Cuisine Mexican, Southern

Keyword Corn, Fritter

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 6 people

Author Jennifer Gainer

Equipment

• Cast Iron Skillet
• Ice Cream Scoop

Ingredients

• 1 26.8 Corn Drained
• 2/3 cup Water
• 2 tbsp Taco Seasoning
• 1/4 cup Cilantro Fresh, Chopped
• 2/3 cup Tempura Mix
• 2 tbsp Olive Oil

Instructions

• Heat oil in a large cast iron skillet
• Add 1 ice cream scoop of batter to pan cook until golden brown and crisp, 2-4 minutes per side.
• Using a slotted spatula, transfer fritters to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain excess oil. Season with a pinch of sea salt to taste.
• You may need to cook fritters in batches. Lower heat if fritters are browning too quickly.

I also offered a fresh new take on coleslaw. This is my fresh Avocado Coleslaw where fresh mashed avocado is used instead of traditional mayonnaise. This lowers the bad cholesterol for a more health conscience option. Plus it also helps to prevent spoilage during the hot summer months when mayonnaise has a shorter life expectancy in the heat. Not to mention that it really tastes great, especially if you decided to do fish tacos, which are a crowd favorite over here, so I will be sharing that recipe next week!

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