As the winter solstice approached, I was wondering how to mark that darkest of days. I was tempted to take the mead & meat, faux-Viking approach, but then I got side-tracked. A couple of days beforehand, I overheard a lengthy phone conversation between a loud lawyer named Anton and a family member, in which he organised a Hanukkah party. Any religious observance that hinges on doughnuts and fried foods is OK by me. So while the Jewish Festival of Lights isn't actually connected to its proximity to the solstice, I decided that a large quantity of fried food was the way to go.
I made an ethereally light tempura batter and dunked carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, cauliflower and baby leeks in it. Then came the great intention that made Paul quote Giambattista Marino - I dunked some chunks of cheese in the batter and tossed them into the hot oil. Ethereally light tempura batter is too insubstantial to encase molten cheese and what was scooped from the oil was a bit of a stringy mess.
Still. To us remains the glory of a dauntless daring, and my next fried cheese adventure will be more successful, I'm sure.
11 comments:
I'm sure it was delicious even if messy.
Deep fried cheese sounds like my idea of heaven, especially with some crunchy veg alongside!
What kind of cheese did you use?
Mother - it was!
C - just cheddar. Needed to be in a more solid batter, or crumbed, I think!
Here's a toast to lofty enterprises!
Looks yummy though. I have fried halmoumi but not battered or crumbed a harder cheese -- I can't wait for your next experiment :-).
if at first you only partially succeed, try, try again. :)
Steve - thanks!
Cranky - may not be for a while. A woman really shouldn't eat too much fried cheese.
Grace - I will certainly blog the next attempt!
Deep fried cheese is a Greek specialty! I think Greeks eat cheese with everything, so why not fried? Google search "saganaki" and see if you can find any tips or recipes that way
p.s.: Happy New Year!!
Cheesy tempura...I'm quite sure nothing could be tastier.
Eolica - Happy New Year to you, too! My understanding was that saganaki referred to pan-fried/grilled cheese, rather than deep fried?
Joanne - the vegetables were good too!
We did this for Christmas dinner! Lots of different meats and veggies. Though by the end we were tempuraing Christmas cookies and frying them!
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