Symon Sundays meets French Fridays with Dorie

There were some wonderful selections for Symon Sundays this time around. The first one, Crab Tater Tots, was a delicious potato croquette loaded with crab meat, breaded in panko, and deep-fried. OH YEAH! These were delicious sprinkled with a little old bay seasoning and served with homemade tartar sauce. My Mom and I really enjoyed them!
Crab Tater Tots
Serves 6-8
Makes up to 35 tots (I halved the recipe with excellent results)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup a/p flour
1 large egg
1 cup mashed potatoes
canola oil, for deep-frying
1/2 pound lump crab meat
Panko bread crumbs, for breading
kosher salt

In a small saucepan, combine the butter with 1/4 cup water over high heat. When the water comes to a simmer and the butter is melted, add the flour. Reduce the heat to medium and stir until the resulting paste pulls away from the sides of the pan, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Allow to cool for 5 minutes. Add the egg to the pan and stir vigorously until the egg is incorporated into the flour mixture. Stir in the mashed potatoes and let cool.

Pour enough oil into a medium pot so that the oil comes 3 inches up the sides. Heat the oil to 350F.

While the oil heats, gently fold the crab into the potato mixture; the lumpier the batter the better. Using two soup spoons, shape the mixture into quenelles, or 2-inch footballs. (You should end up with about 35). Roll in the panko. Deep-fry, working in batches and turning once, until crisp, brown, and heated through, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain on paper towels and season with salt.

The second selection for Symon Sundays was the Ohio Creamed Corn with Bacon. I was still able to find corn on the cob, but I paid a premium for it, $5 for 4 ears. My family and I loved this recipe though, so I have to say that it was worth the inflated price.
Ohio Creamed Corn with Bacon
Adapted from Live To Cook by Michael Symon
Serves 4-6
5 ears of corn
1 teaspoon EVOO
1/4 pound thick-cut bacon, cut into 1-inch strips
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste
1/2 recipe Corn Cob Stock (if you'd like the recipe, leave me a comment)
1/2 cup creme fraiche (I used 2% milk)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Grated zest of 1 lime
Cut the kernels from the cobs and set the kernels aside. (Use the cobs to make the stock).

Heat a large saucepan over medium heat and glaze the bottom with the olive oil. Add the bacon and cook, stirring as needed, to render the fat and brown the pieces, 5 minutes. Add the onion and sweat it for about 45 seconds. Add the garlic and continue to cook, stirring, for another 30 seconds. Add the reserved corn and the salt and cook for 2 minutes.

Pour in the corn cob stock and bring to a simmer. Cook until the liquid reduces to approximately 1 cup, 10 minutes. Add the creme fraiche (milk, in my case) and simmer until the mixture begins to thicken, about 3 minutes. Stir in the butter. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cilantro and lime zest. Season with salt if needed before serving.

On Friday, I was supposed to post this Hachis Parmentier for French Fridays with Dorie. I tried. I wrote the post. I hit publish. I repeated these actions several times. Without using expletives, let's just say that Blogger had other plans.
Moving on, this is a wonderful French rendition of a meat and mashed potato pie, sans veggies. I opted to make a variation of Dorie's recipe using ground beef and 1/2 pound spicy sausage. The meat filling was exceptionally aromatic and flavorful and the mashed potato topping was light and airy. I topped mine off with a delicious French Comte cheese. Golden brown on the edges with cheese and butter, this was a definite family pleaser when placed on the dinner table.

I am submitting both Michael Symon recipes to both Brenda of Brenda's Canadian Kitchen for her Cookbook Sundays event and also to Ashlee of Veggie by Season who is the host of our wonderful Symon Sundays event.