I was feeling seriously peckish for something naughty. Not Ryan Reynolds naughty(another time maybe) but TGI Friday’s naughty. There was some pizza mozzarella in the fridge, breadcrumbs as always in the cupboard and so there was one obvious answer. Deep-fried, gooey yet crispy mozzarella dippers with a punchy kick of basil-pesto mayo. Make these tonight, they’re Deadpool easy.

 

Ingredients

• 1 packet of pizza mozzarella (not fresh, it really won’t work with fresh)
• 200g plain flour
• 300g breadcrumbs (this’ll work with anything, plain, panko, whatever you can find)
• 3 eggs
• 200ml milk
• 2tsp salt
• 2tsp pepper
• 1tsp sweet smoked paprika
• 1tsp dried oregano
• 1tsp fajita seasoning (completely optional but it made these babies just plain sexy)
• 3tbsp mayonnaise
• 1tbsp pesto
• about 1lt of vegetable oil for frying

 

First things first, find a decent sized saucepan for deep-frying, make sure you can fit the oil in with plenty of room for your dippers, those things can spit worse than cat cornered by cucumbers. Heat the oil gently until you can drop a piece of bread in it and it’s golden within 2 minutes, or if you’ve got a thermometer, heat til it’s about 160C/170C. Don’t have it too hot or you’ll colour the outside of the dippers but your inside will still be firm, we want gooey. Have 3 bowls ready for your bread crumbing, one for your flour, one for your eggs and milk and one for the breadcrumbs and seasoning. Cut the mozzarella into fingers, mine were about ½ and inch in width and the length of the pack. As long as they slightly resemble these, make them whatever thickness you fancy, though remember, the thicker you make them, the more temperamental the cooking is likely to be. You’ll end up with dark brown coats and firm, resilient middles. Once you’re happy with the fingers, chuck them into the flour. Give them a good shake-up to make sure they’re well coated and move on to the egg mix. Coat them well and throw into the breadcrumbs. Don’t worry if there are bald patches on them, you’ve got to dip them back into the egg and breadcrumbs again, just to be safe, you don’t want to be losing all your cheese in the pan after all. When you’re ready and the mozzarella is appropriately dressed leave them to one side and quickly make your mayo, the easiest thing ever, just by mixing the mayonnaise and pesto together in a bowl. When the oil is ready to go, very carefully lower the dippers into the pan using a spatula or something similar. Cook them until they’re golden brown on the outside and completely melted inside. That’s it. You’re excused. Go and eat those b*****s.