What is WFD?
A Saturday evening get-together where friends share recipes, talk about good food and help others answer culinary questions.
Published Saturday each week at 7:30pm (ET)/4:30pm (PT)
We are kossacks who share a passion for food and cooking across the spectrum of experience and skill. Recipes, tips, history, stories, travels, and yes, FOOD P0RN (photos) is always appreciated!
The first diary to use the tag "what's for dinner" (note that in previous versions of DKos the tags allowed spaces) posted on Tue. July 4th, 2006:
Fourth of July - What's For Dinner Tonight?
In another diary this afternoon, nhwriter mentioned that she loved food diaries. Well, so do I! And today being a particularly delicious day for food and cooking, I thought I'd open a virtual dining room for us this evening.
This was followed by the first use of the tag in the diary title:
What's for Dinner? Episode 1.1
Good evening, fellow repasters and thanks for opening what three hungry kossarians hope to make a regular Saturday this time diary---recipes and cooking without the trolls. There are always so many good recipes posted here day and night that I have personally made and each of us hope you have tried some of ours so the idea became to draw them out some and get you to share more by sharing what we make for our families and ourselves.
And from that point on we saw somewhat-regular Saturday postings of WFD by various dedicated posters. As you can see from the numbers in the title this marks the approximate 13th year of these little Saturday postings! Wow!
You can have a lot of fun perusing our archives:
WFD History
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Here in the Pacific Northwest it is the beginning of the summer harvest for so many of our favorite things! Tomatoes come to mind, of course, as I enjoy my morning coffee on the patio:
Patio tomatoes and a green bell pepper plant
It’s going to be a bit longer before I’m enjoying mine but they are looking healthy and abundant!
Corn is a big one too as the local sweet corn goes on sale at the local grocery store. I’ve never been able grow my own so 4/$1 has me dancing a jig!
This recipe for corn fritters caught my eye and I jumped at the chance to give it a whirl:
Smitten Kitchen's Corn Fritters
-Recipe by Deb Perelman, notes in italics are mine.
Ingredients:
- 6 ears of corn (about 3 cups corn)
- 4 scallions, both white and greens finely chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped herbs of your choice (I used parsley)
- About 1 cup (6 ounces) grated sharp cheddar
- Optional: About 1 cup (8 ounces) sliced black olives (I had this leftover can that needed using so I drained them and tossed them in)
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus 2 more tablespoons if needed
- Olive or a neutral oil for frying (I used vegetable oil)
Shuck corn and stand the first stalk in a large bowl. Use a sharp knife to cut the kernels from the corn into the bowl, then run the back of your knife up and down the stalk to release as much “milk” as possible into the bowl. Repeat with remaining ears. It’s okay if you get a little more or a little less than 3 cups of corn.
Add scallions, herbs, cheese, and many grinds of black pepper and stir to evenly combine. Taste for seasoning; I usually find I needed more salt and pepper. Add the eggs and use a fork or spoon to stir until they’re all broken up and evenly coat the corn mixture. Add 1 cup of flour and stir to thoroughly coat. My mixture at this point looked precisely like egg salad, to give you an idea of what you’re looking for: mostly kernels and just a little visible batter to bind it.
Corn fritter batter
A scoop of it should hold its shape unless pressed down; if yours does not, add the remaining flour.
Heat 2 to 3 tablespoons oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Once hot and shimmering, add your first scoop of corn fritter batter and press it gently to flatten it.
Corn fritter prep and frying
Corn fritters cook quickly so keep an eye on them. When the underside is a deep golden brown, flip and cook to the same color on the second side.
Drain on a paper towel, sprinkling on more salt. When it’s cool enough to try, taste and adjust the seasonings of the remaining batter if needed.
Cook remaining fritters in the same manner, adding more oil as needed. Try to get them to the table before finishing them.
Corn fritters draining
The beginning of the summer harvest is traditionally observed in many Western European cultures on August 1st. You may be familiar with Lammas or Lughnasadh from Celtic and Anglo-Saxon traditions. Baking a loaf to be shared for this summer harvest is a great way to celebrate the seasonal foods of summer. Blueberries are popular here in Oregon as well as where I grew up in Maine. I turned to an old standby from my bookshelf for this one:
Blueberry Crunch Coffeecake
-from The Joy of Cooking -1997 ed. p.781
Position a rack in the lower third of oven and preheat oven to 350°.
Grease an 8½ x 4½-inch (6-cup) loaf pan.
Combine and sprinkle in the bottom of the pan:
- ¼ cup sliced almonds
- ¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
Whisk together in a large bowl:
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
Add:
- 5 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Cut butter with 2 knives or a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Whisk together in another bowl:
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Pour over the flour mixture and stir until about three-quarters of the dry ingredients are moistened. Add:
- 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Fold (gently!) just until the dry ingredients are moistened and the berries are distributed. Spoon into the pan and smooth the top evenly. Bake for 55-60 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a bit of crumb. Let cool in pan on a rack for 5-10 minutes. Loosen around the edges of the pan with a sharp thin blade and turn out upside-down on the rack. Serve warm or let cool for a cruncher topping.
I let mine cool a bit and the topping does get crunchy as it cools. It is almost like a thin layer of toffee-almond “bark”!
Blueberry Crunch Coffeecake
So what are you having for dinner tonight? Pull up a chair and join us as we break bread for our celebratory harvest here at WFD!