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Monday, 2 January 2012

Meat Free Monday: A Lofty Enterprise

We fought against the empire of heaven. We were - that I will not deny - vanquished in that conflict: yet the great intention was not lacking in nobility. Something or other gave them victory; to us remain the glory of a dauntless daring. And even if my troop fell thence vanquished, yet to have attempted a lofty enterprise is still a trophy - Giambattista Marino

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.



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11 comments:

  1. Bettina Douglas2 January 2012 at 08:23

    I'm sure it was delicious even if messy.

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  2. Caroline2 January 2012 at 12:58

    Deep fried cheese sounds like my idea of heaven, especially with some crunchy veg alongside!

    What kind of cheese did you use?

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  3. Alicia Foodycat2 January 2012 at 17:07

    Mother - it was!

    C - just cheddar. Needed to be in a more solid batter, or crumbed, I think!

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  4. Anonymous2 January 2012 at 17:59

    Here's a toast to lofty enterprises!

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  5. mscrankypants3 January 2012 at 02:11

    Looks yummy though. I have fried halmoumi but not battered or crumbed a harder cheese -- I can't wait for your next experiment :-).

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  6. grace3 January 2012 at 09:29

    if at first you only partially succeed, try, try again. :)

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  7. Alicia Foodycat3 January 2012 at 14:00

    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!

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  8. Eólica3 January 2012 at 15:19

    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!!

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  9. Joanne4 January 2012 at 13:10

    Cheesy tempura...I'm quite sure nothing could be tastier.

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  10. Alicia Foodycat4 January 2012 at 15:11

    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!

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  11. kat5 January 2012 at 14:37

    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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