Deep frying (everything) and Mushroom Casserole

I misplaced my camera for a few days, which means I have been delinquent with my blogging. It just doesn't seem right to post without tempting photos. But it is all for the best that there is no evidence of the deep frying extravaganza from Sunday night. It started out quite innocently...

There was a frost warning on the horizon and so we decided to pick all the ripe chili peppers on our 31 plants. With colanders full of cayennes, jalapenos, poblanos, green chiles and more, my husband got the charcoal grilled fired up to do some roasting. We have a great little rack for easy roasting of stuffed jalapenos. So I cored and stuffed those with a mix of cheddar and cream cheese and we roasted those for an appetizer.

Apparently that wasn't enough chili stuffed with cheese for us for the evening because next came the chile rellenos. After roasting, steaming, and peeling the poblanos (and a couple Anaheims) my husband stuffed them with cheese and dipped them in batter. I am not sure of his batter recipe but I know it involves separating the eggs, beating the whites, and stirring them back in for amazing fluff and rising action. He heated the oil and started deep-frying away. We didn't even get out plates. We just started eating the rellenos as soon as they were cool enough to manage.

Now that would have been enough. And I wish I could tell you that that was the end. But there was leftover batter and the oil was still hot and I just couldn't resist. First it was dill pickle slices. I love deep fried pickles. I have had the slices in North Carolina BBQ joints served with Ranch dressing on the side. And more recently I have had lightly battered and fried dill spears at the state fair. Also quite delicious. So in went the dill pickles. Let me tell you there weren't any left on the plate at the end of the evening. And then, here's the embarrassing part, in went dessert.

Now, as an aside, I must share two pieces of information with you. First, is that I lived in Edinburgh for a year. The Scots are happy to deep fry anything and everything. They start with the fish and boy is it good. But then they move on to the sausages, burger patties, and pizzas. And boy are those good too. And then they dive right in and deep fry Mars bars. And those are good too. I waited until about 2/3 through my year there to even try one for fear that I would like them too much. And indeed, they are devilishly delicious. The second relevant detail is that just a few weeks ago there was a local Apple Harvest Festival and among the many fair food options, there were deep-fried Oreos. I was party to the purchase of half a dozen of these beauties. I had half of one and was pleasantly surprised to find that the oil creeps its way into the cookie layers and creates a texture unlike any Oreo bite you've encountered. They are good. And so without any Oreos in the house, you'll understand that I had to toss a few Milanos in for good measure. The oil seeped right into those cookie layers too and just enough heat reached the chocolate for a little bit of melting action and yum..yum...well, need I say more. It was a deep-frying Party!!

And on a slightly healthier side note, last night I tried this recipe for a mushroom casserole that was delicious. I followed the recipe pretty closely and it worked out to be a great little side dish.