hello this is chef john from food wishes comm with flaming greek cheese that's
right the saganaki video is dedicated everyone who's ever said there's nothing
better than fried cheese since it turns out there is
and that would be fried cheese we set on fire before we serve it and while we're
officially posting this as a super exciting sexy date night and or
valentine's day first course idea when you consider this greek classic only
takes about five minutes to make it's also suitable for any old weeknight you
feel like something a little different so with that let's go ahead and get
started with the star of the show our Greek cheese and while there are various
options this Kesari is my favorite and yes it might be pronounced kaziri
but i was confusing my phone so I say Kesari and besides loving the taste this
brand I buy comes in a very saganaki friendly sized portion so hopefully
you'll be able to find something similar but if not you're just gonna have to
slice your own piece somewhere between a quarter and a half inch thick and don't
worry I'm gonna give you more info about the cheese on the blog and I'll list a
few different alternatives but anyway what we'll do to prep this after
unwrapping it is to brush each side lightly with water which I'm gonna do
with a brush here but if you're not doing a video feel free to just wet this
under the faucet for a second and then what we'll do once that's been moistened
in water is go ahead and dredge both sides in flour making sure that surface
is completely covered and other than maybe brushing off a little bit of the
excess before we put it in the pan our cheese is officially prepped and we can
move on to introduce you to the rest of the ingredients and while not
technically in ingredients next to the cheese the most important thing to pull
this off would be some kind of well-seasoned cast-iron skillet
all right there is a way you can do this in a non-stick pan and then transfer it
onto plates and flambe it but for the full effect I think using one of these
is the way to go and then besides that we'll also need a little bit of olive
oil to fry our cheese as well as a couple tablespoons of highly flammable
liquor which in my case is going to be some brandy but really any other kind of
high-proof booze will work and then once our cheese has been fried in Fond bayed
we will finish up with some lemon as well as some freshly chopped parsley and
believe it or not that's it and then what we'll do when we're ready
to serve is place our skillet on medium-high heat and get it very very
hot is in starting to smoke and then what we'll do as soon as we determine
our pan is hot enough is pouring about a tablespoon of olive oil and then
carefully very carefully place in our flour cheese and if you're smart you
should probably use tongs and what we're gonna do is cook this first side for
about two minutes or until it forms a beautiful golden-brown crust and the
cheese begins dus out and then what we'll do once that happens and our
cheese looks a little something like this is quickly and without hesitation
flip it over because if you do hesitate like I did here and move the spatula you
will like I just did totally screw up that beautiful crusty surface but don't
worry since this stuff is still hot and
flexible it is pretty easy to fix and reposition like I'm doing here in fact I
even got a little bit cocky and use some of this extra crispy stuff from the side
to transplant on to a spot that didn't have any crustiness so to summarize no
matter how bad your flip and that was one of my worst ever it's not gonna
matter and the final product is still gonna look amazing but anyway we're
gonna flip that over and we'll just give that second side about 30 seconds or
until I think about a quarter to a third of the cheese is melted oh and a quick
tip don't try to clean any cheese off the side of the pan with your bare
fingers it is super hot and painful but anyway what we'll do after that second
side is cooked about 30 seconds it's quickly removed that from the heat at
which point is time to dim the lights and pour over our brandy and then as
soon as we ignite that with the lighter everybody has to yell OPA as it bursts
into flames are you ready don't leave me hangin here
we go three two one OPA and that's it
everybody stands around watching it burn and of course taking pictures they can
Instagram later and then what we'll do to finish this off is extinguish the
last of the flames with a squeeze of fresh lemon as well as top it off a
little bit of freshly chopped Italian parsley
or fresh oregano if you want although that's a little strong for me so I do
recommend the parsley but up to you you are after all the Apollo
of what advice to follow but anyway once that's been lemon dim parsley it is
ready to serve up on some bread toasted or otherwise and for me a perfectly
executed saganaki is one more 25% that cheese is
crispy and caramelized 25% is gooey and melted 25% is unnoted and the last 25%
is we're not sure and as you can see that's exactly what we have right here
just an amazing combination of textures it's kind of like a fondue meets
mozzarella sticks and if you've never had this Greek cheese it kind of reminds
me of a provolone was sort of a feta flavor profile
speaking of flavor don't forget to dip your bread and what's basically a
dressing formed by the olive oil melted cheese lemon juice and brandy which is
just incredibly tasty and you might be thinking with all that liquid there's no
way that cheese stayed crispy and crusty well it did check it out so I just
absolutely love everything about this dish the texture the taste and of course
the pyrotechnics and by the way if you're afraid to serve this because
you're afraid of burning down your kitchen or possibly injuring one of your
guests who then sues you those aren't bad things to think about since they are
real possibilities but for me totally worth the risk
since there's just no way this could come out tasting any better okay fine
maybe one way but anyway that's it's how I like to saganaki whether you're gonna
serve this trying to spark up a little romance with an old flame on date night
or you're just looking for something fast and fun for a chilly weeknight I
really do hope you give this a try soon so head over to food wishes comm for all
the ingredient amounts or more info as usual and as always enjoy
you