Unfortunately, we couldn’t find conch or abalone, which are apparently seasonal items, nor could we think of a proper substitute. So we scrapped this recipe. Per usual, we still had far too much food so we didn’t really miss it. But the recipe sounded good, so I preserved it.

Monte’s Conch Fritters with Mustard Sauce

Fritters:

• 1 lb conch or abalone
• 2 red peppers
• 2 green peppers
• 2 large sweet onions
• 1 Tbsp cayenne
• 2 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
• 1 egg
• 2-1/2 cups self-rising flour
• oil for frying

Mustard Sauce:

• 3 Tbsp mayonnaise (or plain yogurt)
• 1 Tbsp mustard (Dijon works well)
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
• sea salt & ground black pepper

Mustard Sauce: Mix all of the ingredients together and taste for seasoning. Add salt and pepper to taste. Makes about 1/4 cup of sauce.

Fritters: Rinse the conch and remove and discard the orange fin and the foot. For abalone, clean as usual and cut into 1/2″ pieces. Chop the meat in the container of a food processor. Chop peppers and onions fine by hand, so that there will be crunchy pieces in the fritters.

Place the chopped meat and veggies in a bowl, add the seasoning, egg, and mix in the flour. Roll into balls around 1-1/4″ in diameter.

ring the oil to 350 F. Add 1 fritter at a time, waiting a few seconds before adding the next. Fry only 5 at a time, removing and adding as they are cooked.

Cooking so few fritters at a time means that the oil is kept at a constant temperature, rather than dropping a few degrees each time more food is added. This keeps the fritters crunchy rather than oil-logged.

Fry for 5 minutes, or until golden and light. Drain and serve with the mustard sauce.

Makes around 30 fritters (10 servings).