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Appetizer
3 - 6 servings
20 minutes
10 minutes
Chef Tom Fraker
Bet you can't eat just one!
6 Melissa's "Don Enrique" Dried Hatch Peppers -- stems and seeds removed
2 cups water (or enough to cover the peppers in a pot)
1 clove Melissa's Peeled Garlic
1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
1 pinch kosher salt
Canola oil, as needed
1 pound mozzarella cheese -- cut into sticks
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 eggs
1½ cups panko bread crumbs
3 tablespoons Melissa's Hatch Pepper Powder -- divided
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
To make the sauce, place the Hatch Peppers in a pot and add the water to cover. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 5 minutes.
When done, place the Peppers in a blender and add the rest of the sauce ingredients. Add enough of the simmered pepper water to gain the consistency that you would like. Blend until smooth and set aside.
Place the canola oil in a pot and heat to 165ºF.
For the cheese, you need to set up a frying station. Set 3 mixing bowls on the counter from left to right.
In the far left bowl, add the flour and 1 teaspoon of the Hatch powder and mix.
In the center bowl, add the eggs and beat them.
And, in the far right bowl, add the panko bread crumbs and 2 teaspoons of the Hatch powder and mix.
Once the oil is hot, take a piece of the cheese, toss it in the flour, then in the egg and then in the bread crumbs.
Carefully place it into the hot oil and fry until golden. This will only take a few seconds.
Remove the cheese, drain on paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Repeat for the remaining cheese sticks. Serve with the pepper sauce and enjoy.
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