Tastes Great, Less Filling Bread Pudding

Ok, ok, I know I said I had had enough of this and was done. But it's like having been drinking all night, knowing you've reached your limit, but ordering one at last call. So here it is: 

A friend of mine many months ago professed her love of bread pudding to me and asked if I would make it. I said I would, but didn't and not just because I had never eaten bread pudding let alone made it, but merely because I found nothing funny about it. Fast forward to present day, me free from the bonds of blogging and standing in a bakery with said friend, who once again craved her fave. This time, I soberly declared my intention to make it, Googled a recipe (Williams-Sonoma), saw that list of ingredients was quite simple (baguette, eggs, milk, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg) and we set ourselves to baking. The only issue was our baguette was fresh, and it turns out using day old bread works better as it absorbs more of the liquid - so we ended up using more bread and increasing the baking time. In order to achieve a custard-like consistency. Otherwise, it was the best tasting bread pudding I'd ever had. And, it reminded me of kugel (exact same flavor profile) except the bread gave it a lighter feeling versus the very fine kugel noodles (see Aunt Martha's Old Fashioned Kugel). At the end of the day, the lessons learned were as follows:  when three people tell you you are drunk, go lie down and when someone  asks you to make bread pudding, just do it.

Miller Beer's iconic "Tastes Great, Less Filing" ad campaign launched in 1974, made a beer loving calorie laden nation stand up (literally) and take notice. I'm sure none of of mad ad men could of in their wildest dreams imagined thousands of drunk stadium goers getting on their feet and daring the next section over to counter the "tastes great" declarative chant, with a no less robust "less filling" reply. The only real problem is the actual product does not taste great, and while it may be less filling, I personally like to feel sated. Lite Beer, it invented you.

The Recipe:

12 slices day-old baguette, cut into 3/4-inch   cubes

4 eggs, at room temperature

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar (like your 6-pack abs after drinking Lite Beer)

3/4 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Pinch of salt

4 cups milk

1/4 cup dried cranberries or raisins ( I used Golden Raisins as that's what I had)

Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Lightly butter an 8-inch square baking dish. Spread the bread cubes in it.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt until well blended. Pour in the milk and whisk until combined. Pour the mixture over the bread cubes. Let stand, pressing down on the bread occasionally, until it is evenly soaked, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat an oven to 350°F.

Scatter the cranberries (or raisins or even cranraisins) evenly over the surface of the soaked bread and press to submerge the fruit. Set the baking dish in a large, shallow roasting pan. Add very hot tap water to the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the baking dish.

Bake the pudding until a knife inserted near the center comes out almost clean, 45 to 55 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. Generously dust the top of each slice with confectioners' sugar. Serves 8.

Galloping Gourmet Lasagne Bolanese

"Refined and gorgeous, this elegant lasagne is simply the best we've ever had. The pasta is whisper thin; the ragu is rich and understated; and a silky layer of besciamella (Italian for "white sauce") melds the two for an ethereal eating experience." 

Truer words have never been spoken, about food at least. My seminal moment as a home cook occurred with the April 2006 issue of Gourmet Magazine . Pictured on the cover, a simple white plate and a piece of heaven: Lasagne Bolanese. The accompanying article, by Mario Batali, chronicled his recent trip to Italy and the discovery of the world's most perfect lasagne. A far cry from what Americans call lasagna, the cheesy, tomato sauce laden dish we are all too familiar with. Captivated, but definitely intimidated, I set my sights on some day making it. First. I had to learn to make pasta. The key to this whole dish is the paper thin pasta sheets, and they cannot be bought, you must make them yourself.  That was accomplished via a cooking class I found being taught by an Italian woman who was temporarily living in Detroit while her husband was on assignment with one of the auto companies. Then, I stared lovingly at the cover photo for two more years until I finally got the pasta attachment for my mixer for Christmas and more importantly, the gumption to give it a whirl. Hugely labor intense, I usually split the process into two days, ragu and besciamella  the first day, and the pasta making and cooking the second. I have done it all in one, but it's so exhausting that it's hard to really savor the fruits of my labor, and what's the point if that? Also, the pasta dough makes enough for two lasagnes, so I freeze the extra to make another time. One thing about making the dough, it is greatly impacted by the level of humidity, so I rarely do it in the summer. You have to be ready to add a little water sometimes or extra flour. It takes practice to get the feel for it, but once you do, you'll never go back to the dried box crap. Like I said, it's a lot of work, but the satisfaction in every bite makes it worthwhile. That's what makes me a foodie.

Before Julia Child (and certainly before the Julia child) for me there was Graham Kerr and his one man drinking/cooking show The Galloping Gourmet. 1969-71 on the CBC (because living in Detroit we had a fourth channel from Canada), London born Kerr romped through his TV kitchen in Ottawa, joking, imbibing and cooking with large amounts of clarified butter along the way in front of a live studio audience. It was irreverent, conversational and engaging and probably way ahead of its time. Why as a child this so enthralled me, I do not know, but I loved every minute of it. Maybe that's what makes me a foodie...

The Recipe:

INGREDIENTS: Recipe courtesy of Mario Batali for Gourmet, April 2006
For the Ragu Bolognese:
5 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 rib celery, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
1 pound ground veal
1 pound ground pork (I use a 2 pound beef/veal/pork grind that my Sam the Butcher makes for meatloaf)
1/4 pound sliced pancetta, cut into quarters1/4 cup tomato paste
1 cup whole milk
1 cup dry white wine
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

For the Pasta Dough:

1tsp salt
4 extra-large eggs

3 1/2 to 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus 1/2 cup for dusting the work surface
1/2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

For the Besciamella:
5 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups whole milk
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg 

For Assembling Lasagne:
2 tblsp salt
2 tblsp olive oil
9 tblsp finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Special Equipment: a pastry or bench scraper; a pasta machine; a 13 by 9 inch lasagne pan at least 2 inches deep

DIRECTIONS

Make the Ragu: In a 6 to 8-quart, heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add the onions, celery, and garlic and cook over medium heat until the vegetables are soft but not browned, about 10 to 15 minutes. While vegetables cook, pulse the pancetta in food processor until finely chopped. Increase the heat to high and add the veal, pork, and pancetta, stirring to break up lumps until browned, 10-15 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, milk, and wine and gently simmer uncovered over low heat, stirring occasionally, until almost all of the liquid has evaporated but ragu is still moist, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Stir in salt and pepper and remove from the heat.

Make Pasta Dough while Ragu cooks: Stir together eggs and 1/2 tsp oil in a small bowl. Mound 3 1/2 cups of the flour in the center of a large wooden cutting board. Make a well in the middle of the flour and add the egg mixture and the olive oil. Using a fork, beat eggs mixture,  incorporating the flour a little at a time starting with the inner rim of the well, keeping wall intact by supporting outside with the other hand. When you have a thick paste that you can't beat anymore, and about half of the flour is incorporated, start kneading dough with both hands, using palms (not fingers) and kneading in some of remaining flour (from board), Once you have a cohesive mass (you will have 1/2 to 1 cup flour unincorporated), remove dough from board and scrape board clean with scraper, discarding any leftover bits of dough and flour. Lightly dust board with clean flour and continue kneading until dough is elastic, about 8 minutes. (Dough will be firm). If you have a good mixer, like a Kitchen-Aid, you can make the the dough in there and skip the above, but that's not nearly as fun. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and allow to rest at room temp 30 to 45 minutes.

Make the Besciamella while the pasta stands: In a medium saucepan, heat butter until melted.Whisk in flour until smooth, then cook, whisking frequently, until pale golden brown, 4 to 6 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat milk in separate 1 to 1 1/2 qt pan until just about to boil. Add milk 1 cup at a time to butter mixture, whisking constantly until very smooth. Bring sauce to a boil, whisking, then cook, whisking, 30 seconds. Remove from heat and whisk in  salt and nutmeg. Cover with a buttered round of wax paper buttered side down) and cool to room temp, stirring occasionally.

Roll out Pasta while Besciamella Cools: Cut pasta dough into 8 equal pieces. Cover 7 pieces with plastic wrap and pat out remaining piece of dough into a flat rectangle. Lightly dust with flour. Set rollers of pasta machine at widest setting. Feed rectangle, a short end first, through rollers. Fold rectangle in half crosswise and feed it, folded end first, through rollers 7 or 8 more times, folding half crosswise each time, feeding folded end in first, and dusting with flour to prevent sticking. Turn dial to next narrower setting and feed dough through rollers without folding, a short end first. Continue rolling once at each narrower setting, until narrowest setting is reached. Lay pasta sheet on a lightly floured surface to dry until slightly leathery but still flexible, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, roll out remaining pieces of dough in the same manner. Trim ends and cut pasta sheets crosswise into 5 inch lengths, then cover with a barely damp dampened kitchen towel. 

For assembly: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Bring about 6 quarts of water to a boil and add 2 tablespoons salt. Have ready a bowl of ice and cold water next to the stovetop and add oil to ice bath. Drop 6 pieces of pasta into the boiling water and cook until tender, about 1 minute. Transfer with slotted spoon to ice bath to chill, then transfer to clean kitchen towels, laying pasta flat, and pat dry. Keep water at a boil. 

Spread 1 cup ragu over the bottom of lasagne pan (ragu will barely cover bottom) and sprinkle with 1 1/2 tablespoons Parmigiano-Reggiano, then cover with cooked pasta (pieces can overlap slightly). Spread 1/2 cup besciamella over pasta (layer will be thin). Cook, chill. and dry remaining pasta, 6 pieces at a time, and layer with remaining ingredients in same sequence as above 4 more times (ragu, then cheese, pasta, and besciamella; final layer of besciamella will be 1 cup). Sprinkle top of lasagne with remaining 3 tablespoons cheese.

Bake lasagne, uncovered, until top is pale golden in spots and sauces are bubbling, about 45 minutes, until the edges are browned and the sauces are bubbling. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Serves 8 generously.

Cooks Notes: Ragu and besciamella can be made 2 days ahead and cooled completely, then chilled, covered. Warm ragu over low heat until just stirrable before using. Any leftover dry uncooked pasta can be lightly dusted with flour and frozen in a sealed plastic bag. Do not thaw before cooking.

Blogger Note: Anyone who has read this far is truly a devoted fan. Thank you. This will be the last regular post of In My Kitsch-en, as I feel it has run it's course. 

Speak and Spell Potato Salad

You say potato, I say potahto. We know that Dan Quayle can't spell potato(e). Should we call the whole thing off? I say not. Tasked with bringing summer salad to a BBQ recently, it occurred to me that I had never made anything so esoteric or ubiquitous as potato salad. I find it interesting that cooked potatoes and mayonnaise are so quintessentially American, yet French fries and mayo (a Belgian mainstay) is just not done. Anyway, I went straight to the book of knowledge (aka Gourmet Cookbook) and found the right answer. The recipe spoke to me and they're seemed to be no learning curve: boiled potatoes, hard boiled eggs, mayo, celery and onion. Now the Julia child balked at the notion of eggs - even though she likes egg salad.  Luckily, hers is not the only voice heard, and cooler taste buds (the question Mark and I) prevailed. I did tweak it a bit, reducing the mayo to 3/4 c instead of 1 and added a heaping tablespoon of Dijon mustard to give it a little kick of flavor. Oh, and I omitted the celery because the child h-a-t-e-esses it with a passion. The taste  you ask - it's spelled D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S.

Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than the technology used to put a man on the moon, Speak and Spell by Texas Instruments, was a marvel when introduced at the Consumers Electronics Show in 1978. Before there were PCs, PDAs, cell and ultimately smart phones (and certainly spell check) there were really powerful calculators, digital watches and speech synthesis modules. Speak and Spell was the first educational toy to use speech, and not recorded sounds (the cow says moo) and launched the digital age of learning to spell. Originally programmed to help kids learn 200 of the most commonly misspelled (not mispelled) words, a digitized "voice" would pronounce the word and say each letter as it was input on the keyboard. Correct responses earned verbal and visual praise; wrong  answers received patient encouragement to try again, unlike traditional teacher/student or parent/child interaction. Speak and Spell was your friend (but not in a creepy way like Teddy Ruxpin). And, quite possibly, you could use it to communicate with Extra Terrestrials a la E.T. Of course, kids being kids, just spelling out the pre-programmed words wasn't enough. Making the module say alternative phrases was much more fun, and U-R-A-P-P  if you don't think that's humorous.

The Recipe:

2 pounds boiling potatoes (like Yukon Gold)
3 tblsp cider vinegar
1 tsp salt
3 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1 cup mayonnaise (now, I spelled it out differently: 3/4 cup mayo and 1 heaping tablespoon Dijon mustard)
fresh ground pepper, to taste

Combine potatoes with well-salted cold water to cover by 2 inches in a 3 qt pot. and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered until potatoes are tender, about 25 minutes. Drain and cool slightly. Meanwhile, whisk together vinegar and salt in a large bowl until salt is dissolved. When potatoes are just cool enough to handle. peel and cut into 1 inch pieces. adding to vinegar mixture as they are cut, tossing gently with a rubber spatula to coat. Cool to room temperature.Add eggs, mayo, mustard and salt and pepper to potatoes and stir gently to combine. Serves 6 chilled.

Soup

In the summertime, it turns out I like my soup served like my revenge: cold. This delightful cold cucumber crab soup comes courtesy of my friend Susanne. The taste is almost identical to Greek tzaziki sauce (but that's understandable with the plain yogurt/garlic/cucumber base). The crab adds just the right texture and gives it a little more substance. Now, I should explain that this was served at a book club lunch. And this is no ordinary group. It's a book club that consists of art museum docents (of which I am one) yet, I am neither a reader nor an art lover.  And we only read books related to art. Confused? You won't be...for what I do savor is good food and robust intellectual discourse, both of which are equally and adequately satiated at each meeting.  We are like sisters from a lot of different misters and share a bond thicker than water, stranger than fiction.

I don't think they had parental guidance is suggested in the 70s. Oh, wait, no Soap (ABC, 1977-81) was the first TV show in history to be preempted by a "viewer discretion" warning. And it aired at 930pm. I was 12 years old and watched every episode. Confused? You won't be if you are a regular reader of this blog (or know my mother). The story of a modern family which consisted of two sisters and their dysfunctional blended broods delved into marriage, infidelity, murder, homosexuality (in fact, Billy Crystal played the first openly gay character on TV), mental illness, demonic possession, well the list goes on and on. Purportedly a comedic spoof on daytime drama, Soap repeatedly purposefully jumped the shark all with tongue firmly in cheek. Each episode ended with the cliffhanger questions:  "Will this blog survive?" "Will anyone make this delicious soup recipe?" "Will anyone care if I quit?"  These questions - and many others - will be answered in the next episode of In My Kitsch-en.

The Recipe:

4 cucumbers (about 2 1/4 lb. total), peeled, seeded, and chopped 

2 cups plain yogurt

3/4 cup sour cream 

1/2 cup chopped green onions (white and pale green parts only) 

1/4 cup chopped fresh dill

1 clove garlic, peeled and minced

2 tablespoons olive oil 

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Salt and pepper

6 ounces shelled cooked crab

In a blender or food processor, in batches if necessary, whirl cucumbers, yogurt, sour cream, green onions, dill, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, and mustard until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a bowl, cover, and chill until cold, at least 2 hours and up to 6 hours.

Ladle chilled soup evenly into bowls. Top each serving with about 1/4 cup crab. 

My Cherry Chicken Salad Days Are Over

I am very lucky to live in a region where my two favorite seasons collide. Of course I am referring to Michigan cherry season and Christmas in July (see Do Ahead Holiday Casserole). We take a yearly pilgrimage to the Northern Lake Michigan shore to eat our weight in sweet cherries - abundantly available from local grower's roadside stands. But my real guilty pleasure is cherry chicken salad sandwiches. My first stop is always Riverside Deli in picturesque Glen Arbor (indeed, Good Morning America voted it "Most Beautiful Place in America" so you know it has to be good). At this little carry out place on the bank if the Crystal River, you wouldn't expect to find such a carefully crafted (and wrapped - they tie it up with a pretty ribbon) sandwich. Homemade seven grain bread, sliced thick, to house what can only be described as heaven. They distinguish themselves by using fresh cherries, along with pecans, celery (which is usually the bane of my existence but here provides the perfect crunch), fresh greens, and chicken, of course. A close runner up, and usually my second vacation day lunch is the cherry chicken salad wrap at The Cove in Leland, a few miles to the north. The twist here - besides it being a wrap - is that they use dried cherries. Still sweet and savory with cherry/mayo one-two punch, it adds a slightly different dimension to the texture. A fleeting season, it comes but once a year, gone before you know it.

"That's when I knew my salad days were over" is one of my all-time favorite movie movie lines from the Cohen brothers tour de force Raising Arizona.Turns out the phrase has it's origins in Shakespeare, but it was a crazed Nicholas Cage that introduced it to me.The 1987 screwball comedy about a "reformed" ex-con, his infertile police woman wife (who thought havin a critter was the next logical step), quintuplets, and escaped criminals who emerge from the primordial ooze to wreak havoc. Hi and Ed, unable to conceive and unfit to adopt, decide to kidnap a baby that is one of a set of quints, reasoning that those parents 'have more than they can handle'. Ed, directing Hi to "get me one of them babies" sets off a string of events that includes diaper theft, bank robbery, high speed chases, pursuit by a Harley riding bounty hunter, bizarre dream sequences, and a seemingly happy ending once the ill-gotten infant is returned to his birth parents. My salad days, when I was green in judgement, and cold in blood....

The Recipe:

4 cups cooked, cubed chicken

1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
1 rib celery, finely diced
2 medium shallots, minced
3/4 cup dried or fresh sweet Michigan Cherries
1/3 cup light mayonnaise
1/3 cup fat free Greek yogurt
3 tbsp. white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
Some really good bread, sliced thick

Combine all ingredients and adjust any seasonings as needed. You can eat it immediately, but I like to let the flavors develop a little while before eating. So I suggest letting it sit in the fridge for about 30 minutes or so before eating! Makes 4 sandwiches.

Aunt Martha's Old Fashioned Kugel

Everybody gets by with a little help from their friends, and I am no exception. Regular readers know that I rely heavily on a few trusty sidekicks to give me a hand (and often a kick in the pants) when I need a great recipe. Today's installment comes from a familiar source - Julie (see My Big Fat Greek Spinach Pie, among others). And the subject is kugel - a traditional Jewish noodle dish. I first had kugel too many years ago in New York crafted expertly by my brother-law's mother, Marcella Klein. Despite not being particularly known for her culinary acumen, the woman made a mean kugel. Fast forward to modern times, and to Julie's Aunt Martha's kugel that has now become a 4th of July brunch tradition in our little neck if the Woods. A sweet, creamy noodle dish that satisfies both as an entree and dessert - what more could you ask for? One note: when Julie sent me the ingredient list it just said "8oz fine noodles". Not sure, I asked her what she meant because that is not how I would've described the noodles she used. After a bit if back and forth (her saying, you know Passover noodles, and me saying no, I don't know) she finally sent me a picture of noodle bag (see below). Turns out, you don't have to be Jewish to make a delicious kugel, but it couldn't hurt.

I Love Lucy, The Million Dollar Idea.Season 3, Episode 12, originally aired January 11, 1954. Yes, the candy factory and grapes in Italy and William Holden's footprints are all iconic episodes. But this one will equally have you laughing so hard you'll cry.  Lucy once again finds herself in financial hot water with Ricky, when he informs her that she's overdrawn on her allowance until June 12, 1978. Leave it to Lucy to conger up a get rich quick scheme selling her Aunt Martha's salad dressing (for 40 cents a quart, no less). They use the morning talk show of Lucy's frenemy Caroline Appleby to go on TV to hawk the product, Lucy posing as average housewife Isabella Klump and Ethel is the Ron Popiel of her day as the home economist extolling the virtues of such a delicious addition to any woman's dinner table. The orders pour in, and of course our dynamic duo can't fill them all, begin to lose money, and are forced to go back on TV to "unsell" the dressing as liquid swill.  As always, Lucy had a lot of splaining to do. Enjoy the classic clip:

The Recipe:

1lb. cottage cheese (can use 2%)

1C sour cream (can use light)

3oz. cream cheese (can use 1/3 less fat)

1C sugar

5 eggs

1tsp vanilla

8 oz. fine noodles, cooked & drained

1 1/2 sticks butter, melted

3/4C ground Corn Flake crumbs (to fine consistency)

Special Equipment:

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a small bowl, take 2 tablespoons of melted butter and mix with Corn Flake crumbs.

In large bowl, mix cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, eggs, and vanilla and remaining buttah. Stir in noodles and pour into greased 9 X 13 pan.

Sprinkle Corn Flake & butter mixture over the top and bake for 50 minutes, uncovered.
Julie's Notes (and Julie Knows Best):

Can make ahead: reheat at 250° for 30 minutes. Can make it ahead and freeze: bake at 350° for 40 minutes – cool – freeze – thaw – bake again for 10 minutes at 350°. 

This dish is great cold the next day too! :Makes 12 Serving

The Deep Fried Ravioli

Even though it is fried and true, this famous appetizer from St Louis is well known as "toasted" ravioli. But it's fried, trust me. I first had them many moons ago on a business trip to St. Louis and more specifically, a to an Italian neighborhood there known as "The Hill". Intrigued, and urged on by all of the natives, I was game. And every restaurant has it on the menu - it is as ubiquitous as Busch Beer. But, I guess once you have a hit, it's easier to go with what works than risk something new. The recipes I found all used whole milk or buttermilk as the liquid, along with the requisite egg and breadcrumbs. Being the rebel that I am, I used what I had on hand, 2% milk - ignoring the potential need for a higher fat content, I mean isn't frying instead of toasting fatty enough?!  Again, being the deviant that I am, in place of the traditional marinara sauce for dipping, I used some delicious leftover pomodoro sauce (see Big Night Pomodoro Sauce) from the previous night's dinner.I have to say, they came out great.  The only thing I would do differently, if I were to to repeat my success, is to use a larger ravioli. I only had small round ones leftover in the freezer and you didn't quite get enough of the ricotta flavor with each bite. One last thing, these are definitely a make at home treat for anyone outside the Greater St Louis area, as here in Detroit, toasted ravioli is an unknown delicacy - although I've heard tales (suburban myths likely) that one of the chain "Italian" restaurants has them on their menu. I'm the wrong person to ask of such things, as those who know me know I only patronize small local establishments, of which there are many. I was so lucky to be born in my favorite city.

On the heels of Jaws summer blockbuster success, moviegoers were ready to go back into the water with another Peter Benchley tome, The Deep. 1977's underwater thriller starring Nick Notle, Jacqueline Bisset, Louis Gossett Jr and Robert Shaw (this time his fate is to be fried, not eaten). The plot thickens as Notle and Bisset innocently uncover a cache of morphine and Spanish treasure from a shipwreck while scuba diving off the coast of Bermuda. Let's stop here for a moment so I can tell you that 12year old me was so enthralled with the gorgeous Bermuda backdrop of this fine film that it became my life's ambition to travel there. 25 year old me made it, so did 30 year old me and 45 year old me. Dare to dream people, dare to dream. Now back to our story....enter Haitian drug lords who use black magic on our young heroes in order to unearth the morphine, a double-crossing treasure hunter, and the lone survivor of said shipwreck with questionable motives. All willing to kill for a prize worth, you guessed it, one million dollars. Talk about jumping the shark....

The Recipe:

• Vegetable oil, for frying
• 1 large egg 
• 2 tablespoons milk 
• 2/3 cup bread crumbs
• 24 refrigerated cheese ravioli or frozen, thawed
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 2 cups  marinara sauce
• 
  

Special Equipment: Heavy bottomed pot, candy thermometer, wax paper (which really isn't special)

1. Pour enough vegetable oil into a large, deep pot so that it reaches a depth of 2 inches. Heat oil over medium heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 325°F.
2. While vegetable oil is heating, whisk together egg and milk in a shallow bowl. Place bread crumbs in a separate shallow bowl. Working in batches, dip ravioli into egg mixture, allowing excess to drip back into bowl, then coat with bread crumbs. Place coated ravioli on wax paper. 
3. Line a plate with paper towels. Fry ravioli in batches, turning occasionally, until golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes total. Be careful not to crowd ravioli in pan, and make sure oil comes back to 325°F before adding another batch of ravioli. Transfer fried ravioli to lined plate to drain. Sprinkle fried ravioli with grated Parmesan. Warm marinara sauce. Serve fried ravioli with warmed marinara on the side.