Alternate Title: Things Angie Did When She Should Have Been Cleaning Her Apartment
I consider myself a young woman of very refined tastes…
in bar food.
Specifically, fried pickles. Having eaten many a fried pickle in my life, I’m here to tell you, friend, that not all are created equal. Some establishments fry whole spears, which is just dandy if you’re not particular about your breading to pickle ratio. I’ve heard of some places frying up whole baby dills, but you run into the same problem. There just isn’t enough of the crunchy, slightly greasy exterior to balance the sharp taste of the pickle.
What a pickle. (Get it?)
My favorite fried pickles are dill chips. Using chips, the batter/breading to pickle ratio is almost perfect. This leads us to yet another factor to consider- bread or batter? I’m partial to batter only because I prefer the aforementioned ratio to tip slightly in favor of batter. The pickle is merely a perk. However, we here at The Warped Cookie Cutter are Equal Opportunity Breaders. If we find something can be dipped in egg and dredged in flour or cornmeal or Panko (or all) and cooked up to crispy perfection… well, who are we to determine which method produces the best madness?
Oven “Fried” Pickles
adapted from SkinnyTaste.com
I didn’t make the dip; it goes against The Rule.
First, you’re gonna preheat the oven and the cookie sheet to 450.
Now you’re gonna need some pickles.
Then you’re gonna take a handful and drain ‘em on some paper towel. Try to wick away as much of the moisture as you can, hm?
Then you’re set up a dredge assembly line, got it? Beat together one whole egg and one egg white. A shallow dish, say a salad plate, is just dandy for this. In another shallow dish, you’re gonna mix together some flour, some Panko, some cornmeal, some dried parsley, some salt, some pepper, and some paprika, because you’re feeling smoky.
Now you’re gonna dredge, and you’re gonna like it. First in the egg, then through the dry mix, and then to a clean plate. Easy, right? Well, then, get crackin’!
By now, the oven and the cookie sheet should be hot. Using anything but your bare hand, take out the cookie sheet and give it a good going-over with some olive oil spray. Arrange the pickles in a single layer on the sheet, and then give the tops of the pickles a good spray. Put ‘em in the oven and go do something else for ten minutes. Might I suggest cleaning a certain blogger’s bathroom? After that, take the pickles out, flip ‘em over, and give ‘em another good spray and five more minutes in the hotbox.
Not bad, huh?
This, my friends, is what we call “a happy.”
Use it wisely.
My mouth is watering!