Corn Fritters with Roasted Tomatoes and Lime Aioli

This is a very impressive appetizer that is quite tasty and not too difficult to make. If you can make pancakes, you can make fritters! Original recipe taken from Cooking Light. 


INGREDIENTS:
8 ripe tomatoes, halved (the vine-ripe variety was a good size for me.)
olive oil
Freshly ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 cups corn kernels (3 ears fresh)
1/3 cup finely chopped green onions
1/4 teaspoon salt
Aioli Ingredients:
3 tablespoons reduced-fat mayonnaise
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 garlic clove, minced

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Arrange tomato halves, cut side up, on a baking sheet (my Silpat works great for this). Drizzle tomatoes with olive oil; sprinkle with freshly ground cracked pepper. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until tomatoes are soft and have lost a lot of their moisture. They should look a bit like sundried tomatoes - kind of flat. After 1 hour, check them every 15 minutes or so to make sure they don't burn.
3. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and baking powder in a medium bowl. Add milk and egg; stir until smooth. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon pepper, corn, green onions, and salt.
4. Heat some olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Drop batter by level tablespoonfuls into pan; cook 2 minutes or until tops are covered with bubbles and edges are golden. Carefully turn fritters over; cook 2 minutes or until golden. Repeat procedure with remaining batter. (*This is just like cooking pancakes. Add more olive oil as needed in between batches.)
5. Combine mayonnaise, lime juice, and garlic.
6. Place one tomato half onto each fritter and drizzle with aioli.

Serves: 16


*NOTE: you can make these ahead of time (minus the aioli on top) and store in the freezer or fridge. You can heat them back up by baking for 10 minutes at 350° or in toaster oven on Medium.