November 18, 2016
Fabulous Friday Flavour: Mozarella en Carozza
Mention Italian food and the first things that come to mind would be the almighty pasta, pizza (margarita) and/or risotto.
Anything sandwich-ish would likely not cross your mind. Or deep-fried. (that by the way, would belong more to the Dutch centre of excellence).
Enter Mozzarella en Carrozza – an Italian and Southern Italian cuisine made by deep frying mozzarella cheese sandwich. In simple, plain English it is translated as mozzarella in a carriage. Think of it as golden-crusted slices of eggy bread filled with, as the name suggests…mozzarella!
The original ensemble only needs the very basic of ingredients : bread, mozzarella (of course!), eggs, breadcrumbs and oil for deep frying. Easy enough to make your world go round in the sandwich universe.
My bastardised version, however, prefers a little more flavour, a slab of happy and a dash of attitude. By that, I mean:
adding a little more herbs to the flavour…
a dash of exotic cheese to the attitude…
and enhancing a slab of meat to the happy
They could be activated collectively or individually or a combo of any two. Whatever works. Whatever rocks your Carrozza. Whatever you desire. It’s your sandwich. Just be sure to add that all first before you seal its fate prior to deep frying.
They can be made ahead to be frozen. Then whenever you feel like you need a cheesy pick-up in a Carrozza at any time of the day, all you have to do is pop them into the deep-fryer.
Now let’s get that drool off and get cracking!
- Slices of white bread, crust removed
- 2 pieces of fresh mozzarella cheese
- 3-4 slices of deli turkey meat
- Slices of desired herbed/exotic cheese (I used asparagus cheese)
- 2 eggs
- 3-4 tbsp low fat milk
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 1 tbpn dried Italian herbs
- 2 tspn paprika powder
- 3 tspn dried chives
- Salt and pepper
- Enough oil for deep frying
- Cut the mozzarella cheese into halves and place them flat on the bread slices
- On the same bread, place deli meat on top of mozzarella. Top with one slice of bread. Set aside
- On a separate bread piece, place slices of desired herbed cheese.
- Then top that with mozzarella. Top with one slice of bread. Set aside
- Repeat till all bread/meat/cheese are all used up
- Cut the sandwiches into 2 (you can divide each bread into 4)
- Beat the egg with milk. Season with salt and peper. Set aside
- Mix the herbs (Italian herbs, paprika powder and chives) with the breadcrumbs. Add salt and pepper to tast. Mix well and set aside
- On a non-cluttered working space, place separately 1. flour bowl 2.bowl with milk and egg batter 3. bowl with herbed breadcrumbs next to each other. This would make it an easier system
- Dredge the sandwich first with the flour bowl
- Then coat the sandwich with milk and egg batter until fully covered
- Finally coat the sandwich with breadcrumbs thorougly to seal the insides of the sandwich
- Repeat the process until all the bread slices are used up
- Heat up oil in a deep pan enough for deep frying.
- Deep fry each side till golden brown
- Remove from heat and drain excess oil
- Serve hot and watch that cheese oozing out
- Cut the breaded sandwiches in smaller, bite size shapes for snacks or to be served for parties!
Yum, very similar to Monte Cristo sandwich here. You are right, would’ve never associate it with Italian food.
Right? I would never have thought of that either, Jas. But it definitely works! I still got a few frozen this time. Hehehehe! 😀 ohh…fooooood!!!!