Zubair's Corn Cakes
Prep. Time:
15 minutes
Baking Time:
25 minutes
Total Time:
25 minutes
Serves:
12 cakes
In the second episode of Top Chef ™ Season 22, we saw the chefs preparing a brunch for Daniel Boulud. the ultimate winner was Zubair and this is our version of his corn cakes.
Ingredients
500g (18 oz) frozen corn kernels, thawed and charred
3 shallots, sliced
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp fennel seeds, lightly toasted and coarsely crushed
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp sumac
1 tsp baking powder
90 g (3 oz) European butter, melted, plus extra for greasing the molds
3 eggs, separated
2 tbsp of all-purpose flour
70g (2.5 oz) feta, cut into small slices
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Grease the 12 molds with butter. If you’re using (and I really recommend it) the Silpat Perfect Brownie Mold, then you don’t need to go to a lot of trouble with the greasing - your corn cakes are going to pop out perfectly.
Put the corn kernels into a food processor, along with the shallots and garlic. Pulse for 3–4 seconds, until the mixture is roughly processed but has not turned to a wet purée.
Add the fennel seeds, cumin, sumac, baking powder, butter and egg yolks, along with a heaped teaspoon of salt and a very good grind of black pepper.
Pulse (or mix) a few more times then transfer to a bowl and fold the flour in.
Whisk the egg whites to form firm peaks. Fold a third of the whites gently into the corn mixture – don’t overwork it – and then add the next third and then the next.
Once fully incorporated, divide the mixture between the moulds and then insert a chunk of feta into each. Push it halfway down the corn mixture – the cakes will puff up around the cheese when they cook.
Bake for 25 minutes until the cakes have risen and are golden and fluffy – the mixture will still be a bit wet at this point. Remove from the oven and set aside for 10 minutes before lifting them out of the molds.
