Deep Frying = True Love

The weekend was finally here, and by finally I mean: Here already? Wow!

For Christmas I gave my mom these cookbooks from Disneyland that she had been wanting badly. One is a dessert recipe book and the other one is all types of meals. Both of them consist of recipes compiled from all the Disney restaurants throughout their parks. My mom and I haven't even been able to put these books away yet, because we look through them so often and drool over the culinary masterpieces.

Friday we decided to knock some of the recipes out, which were conveniently on my Bake-It list as well. Mom even had to go purchase a skillet to fry these babies since we never fry things in the house (something about an early argument between my parents concerning the correct way to fry chicken.)

First recipe: the famous Monte Cristo.

I actually tried my first Monte Cristo at the Blue Bayou in Disneyland. When I ordered it, I thought it was merely a turkey, ham, and cheese sandwich. Little did I know it would tower my plate as a grilled cheese/cordon bleu/doughnut dusted with powdered sugar and accompanied with blackberry preserves. It was a taste I would never forget. Friday I was able to relive this taste of heaven as my mother and I got to tackle the art of deep frying.

First step was sliced challah bread. You definitely need a sweet moist bread if you want that doughnut taste.

 My mom kind of failed and bought chicken instead of turkey. Of course my dad had the "hilarious" idea that the sandwich should be renamed the "Monte Chicken-o"...oh Dad. She still bought the good stuff, though.

 So it goes: bread, turkey(chicken), Swiss cheese, ham, bread.

 Then you dunk it in the batter.

 Set it in the oil for about three minutes on each side.

 And here's the finished product. Cut diagonally and dust with powdered sugar. Serve with blackberry preserves. It was even better than I had remembered. "Melt in your mouth" status.

My dad, also known as the fastest eater on the planet (and my friends think I'm fast) got to be the guinea pig. Of course he dove into the Cristo right after we pulled it out of the oil. As he bit it he burned his mouth, which caused him to cough, creating a cloud of powdered sugar in front of him. I wish I could've captured it on camera. Unlike his joke, it was actually hilarious.

One down, 99 to go. :)