Recipe: Lobster and Corn Fritters

Leslie Lampert is the founder of a popular restaurant in Mount Kisco called Café of Love and a resident of White Plains. She also owns Ladle of Love in Mount Kisco (for takeout only) and Love on the Run (off-premise catering). One of her favorite dishes is ”lobster and corn fritters.”

Here is her recipe for this dish:

Lobster and corn fritters
Ingredients

• 1 one-lb. lobster
• 1/3 cup fresh tarragon
• ½ cup mayo
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ t baking powder
• ½ t baking soda
• ¾ cup buttermilk
• 1 large egg, separated
• 1 ear corn, kernels cut off cob
• 2 T minced chives
• 1 T unsalted butter, melted
• Vegetable oil

Directions
Plunge the lobster In a large pot of boiling water, and cook until bright red, (5- to 6 minutes). Cool, remove meat, coarsely chop and refrigerate. Chop tarragon and fold into mayo. Season with salt and pepper and chill until ready to serve with fritters.

In a large bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, whisk buttermilk with egg yolk. Add wet ingredients to dry, stir gently and fold in lobster, corn, chives and melted butter. In another bowl, whisk egg whites to soft peaks and fold into batter. Heat two inches of oil to 350 degrees.

Drop a heaping tablespoon of batter into pot and fry, turning once, about two minutes. Transfer the golden fritters to paper towel-lined baking sheet and season with salt. Serve with tarragon mayo (and lemon wedges).

About the chef

Leslie Lampert was once one of America’s leading food writers. A senior editor at Ladies' Home Journal, she wrote food feature articles and had many other editing and writing responsibilities.

But she liked making soup at home for her fledgling gift basket business so much, she decided to give up journalism to pursue a career in the food business. Her “re-invention of herself" was brought to the attention of a a vast television audience on the Oprah Winfrey show in 2008. That same year, she won a Forbes Enterprise Award for Ladle of Love.

During her journalism career, she wrote articles about food and lifestyle for Time, The New York Times, Parents, House Beautiful, Glamour and other publications. She appeared frequently on television programs as a lifestyle expert including The Today Show, CNN and CBS’s 48 Hours.

No cuisine is off limits for the Café of Love which changes menus every ten weeks or so with dishes from many continents appearing on the menu. “Customers can go on a global trip food wise — that is why when the meal ends, the bill arrives in a passport,” Lampert pointed out.

She has always been passionate about soup. Before she opened Ladle of Love in Mount Kisco in 2003, she served her homemade soup to dinner guests, families of friends who were ill with cancer and, in 2001, to Millwood firemen (among the Ground Zero first responders) and relatives of victims.

Lampert earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Skidmore College and a Masters degree in Journalism from Boston University (she grew up in Boston).

Café of Love is located at 38 East Main Street, Mount Kisco, NY 10549, 914-242-1002.