Deep Fried Chocolate Covered Cherries

Well, I did it! This past Sunday I fried up my first batch of chocolate covered cherries! And let me say it was quite the experience. Albeit a tad messy but exhilarating none the less. There's something about oil splashing and food frying that gets me excited. 

I first got the idea a week or so ago while driving by a KFC on my way home from work. I borrowed the idea from hearing about Snickers Bars being fried. I just thought it might be a better way to eat those awful chocolate covered cherries or boxed chocolates. I somehow don't see myself as being the first ever to come up with such a silly idea. But hey why not give it a go.....everyone loves food deep fried!

I went out and bought several packages of Cella's boxed chocolate covered cherries and stuck them in the freezer (thank you Christina from She Runs, She Eats for that tip! Go check out her blog....er after reading this one). I decided to use a simple tempura batter for the coating.

Tempura Recipe:

1 cup of flour

2/3 cup of ice water

1/3 cup of milk

1 egg

1 tbs salt

1 tbs sugar

Before mixing up the batter I filled up my deep fryer with 100% vegetable oil and heated it to 400 degrees. Next I procured the chocolates from the freezer and dunked them in the batter. I slowly tonged them into the oil. The first few I over-cooked. They exploded when the chocolate melted and the liquid center leaked out into the oil. So, I figured they needed to be "lightly" coated, flash fried and removed quickly.

After ruining 5 or 6 of them I started to get the hang of it. I just made sure to dip them one at a time and move quickly. Once fried, I patted them down with a paper towel to remove any excess oil, and then sprinkled them with powdered sugar. You might want to eat them as soon as they've slightly cooled, since they don't keep too long. The leftover ones later turned into a mushy ball of batter and syrupy goo. I must say the fresh ones were quite tasty, even for a boxed chocolate. 

All-in-all yummers but very heavy on my stomach and super messy. For the finale, I ended up popping a bottle of champagne to help celebrate this new creation. Give it a try! 

Deep Fried Chocolate?

So lately I've been trying to come up with a way to use all of those horrible chocolates we receive for Valentine's Day, Halloween, Christmas, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day. You know the ones I'm talking about, those "boxed" chocolates with their strange creamy centers, and even those awful chocolate covered cherries. Well, I think I have the answer.

Driving home I passed a KFC and it got me thinking how we here in the south just love to fry everything. We'll fry turkeys, oysters, Snicker Bars, Twinkies, even icecream... the list goes on and on ad nauseam. So why not fry up chocolate covered cherries? Sometime later this week I plan on breaking out my deep fryer and frying up a box of chocolates. I need to find the right batter that will hold the chocolate and keep it from becoming a total mess. Also, I need to try different oils. Would peanut oil heat and taste better than lets say a vegetable oil? Should be a fun experiment and I will definitely keep you posted on my progress. If you have any tips I would much appreciate them...hey you might even make it in my next blog. 

Roasted Beets & Fried Goat Cheese Salad

Came home the other night in a truly horrible mood, a real stinker, but with one whiff all of that went away. Adrianne was in the kitchen cooking up one of my all time favorites, roasted beets, Panko fried goat cheese and a fresh arugula spring mix salad served with a 2006 Blackstone Pinot Noir....heaven! It's amazing how the right meal can melt the daily grind right off me and fix everything. So, I thought I would share with you this wonderful salad. 

Beets:
Fresh beets at the market are rather easy to come by so start by getting a couple of them. Slice off the tops, next get all the hairy bits off, then cut into thick wedges. Toss with olive oil, kosher salt, crushed black pepper and a little sugar (the sugar is crucial!) Roast on a sheet pan in the oven @ 425 until they're crispy on the outside, stir them around every 10-15 minutes so they cook evenly.

Goat Cheese: 

4 oz of Goat Cheese and 2 of cream cheese mixed together, rolled into 1 oz balls and then flattened into a disc. Put in refrigerator so they'll get really cold. Heat olive oil in skillet to sizzling, medium high I guess. Dip the goat cheese in a beaten egg, then coat with Panko (we fry everything in Panko but any other type of breadcrumbs will do the job). Cook in hot oil until nice and golden brown on each side.

Adrianne likes to serve it on fresh spring greens w/ toasted walnuts (or pecans :) with a warm balsamic dressing. I actually prefer not to use any dressing since the arugula has enough punch of flavor. The Blackstone pinot noir with hints of cherry and tobacco was perfect for the salad. Plus, it's a wine that won't break the bank (under $15.00). -Thanks Adrianne! 

You STOLE IT Cindy McCain

Well once again we have some embellishing going on in the ranks of our politicians. First it was Hilary Clinton and her 96' trip to the front lines of Bosnia, and how she landed under sniper fire in the war torn country. But now, now we have something that's even worse in my opinion. Sen. John McCain's wife was recently busted for posting so-called "family recipes" on her website. These recipes were actually lifted from the Food Network!

The Huffington Post reports the page featuring Cindy McCain's family recipes has been taken down. The campaign is blaming an intern for posting them without attribution, CNN and TMZ.com reported. Just one problem with that, the Post noted. The Republican presidential contender's wife submitted the recipe for Passion Fruit Mousse as her own for a New York Sun article in January.

Ok, if you have a recipe that's not yours, fine, since most of them are already in the Joy of Cooking. However, please please don't pretend it's from your family when it's not. I mean come on...... she had an intern come up with some recipes that would make her cool and appealing to the public. Well, I'm offended! There are so many people in the food industry working their asses off to come up with ideas and different recipes. They sure don't deserve this kind of behavior nor should they tolerate it! I don't mind simple embellishing but to outright lie about it, well that's another story. Phoooie on you Cindy and your intern!