Like Painting, Only Tastier

Back from the holidays and some time without posting. After a few days in Florida eating fish sandwiches at every opportunity it was nice to get away from all that sunshine and citrus and be back for some good winter weather.

Pictured above are fried fingers of goat cheese. I don't think they'll replace the mozzarella stick at the local bar, but it's a nice alternative with lots of possibilities for doctoring them up. There wasn't much too it. Just shaped some goat cheese (there are ever-going options for local ones around here), rolled the logs in flour, dipped them in a beaten egg, and rolled them in bread crumbs. After they were coated up they went into the fridge for about 30 min., then were deep fried in 350 oil until they looked done.

Here I just added some salt to the cheese sticks once they were out of the fryer. I think they'd be great with fines herbs mixed with the cheese or anything that wouldn't impact their incredible lightness. They were just fine with salt, and also with a squeeze of lemon.

Why is deep frying like painting? First, I felt the need to use a drop cloth--an old Scene. Second, I cracked a window, a step I often forget to do when painting or staining in the house. There are no fancy fryer filters or range hoods here at The CFT kitchens, so the scents of the kitchen linger, for better or worse. I gotta say, I'm a big fan of this frying setup, with the cast iron on an extra burner. Induction would have been nice, but this worked just fine.