When I first started stocking my kitchen as an adult with supplies, one of the first items I acquired was the workhorse of my kitchen: a cast iron skillet. As a son of the South, I grew up eating cornbread as muffins or squares cut from a baking pan or iron skillet. Within months, I started making simple cornbread fritters in my skillet. I later added ingredients like whole corn kernels, garlic, peppers, mushrooms, etc. to make vegetable fritters. For this recipe, I used leftover ingredients from other meals in my kitchen: andouille sausage, a jalapeño pepper, a red bell pepper, and scallions. I added some shredded Colby Jack cheese and seasoning to the batter and smoked the peppers for extra flavor. Only your imagination limits the possible ingredients for corn fritters, so be creative.

Corn fritters make a satisfying lunch or snack. The first fritters from the skillet cook in 6 minutes (1/3  of the time it would take to bake muffins or a loaf of bread). They taste so good: I usually burn my mouth eating the first fritter to come right out of the skillet! Corn fritters taste best within a few minutes of removing them from the pan. You can add butter if you like, but I prefer them without. The fritters keep well for leftovers. Use a skillet to reheat each side for about a minute (the microwave turns reheated fritters into rubber). I plan to eat a fried or poached egg on top of one of these for breakfast. Yum!