There are very few things in life that cannot be improved by a good grilling – meat, men and democracy being ones that spring immediately to mind.
And of course, cheese.
A friend and colleague had brought back this cheese from Saudi Arabia for me. Yes, an Eastern European cheese bought in Riyadh and delivered to me in Doha. International yah?
Kashkaval is a yellow cheese hailing from Eastern Europe, specifically Albania, Romania and related countries. It tastes similar to cheddar cheese, and this one was laced with cumin seeds, giving it a unique flavor. It can be made with sheep or cow milk and I suspect this one was the latter.
Now when faced with a gift of cheese, a girl feels she needs to do it justice. So rather than simply photograph and write about it, I wanted to give it the treatment it deserved. What did I do? I covered it in batter and fried the bejesus out of it.
The recipe for Kashkaval Panne called for a beer batter. I only had Corona in the fridge so went with this (I sometimes think they will one day revoke my Australian citizenship for Un-Australian beverage drinking) which gave it a lighter texture. The batter was simply an egg, some flour and the aforementioned beer, mixed and then coating thick slices of the cheese.
A quick grill in some vegetable oil and I created alchemy of oozy fatty goodness which I polished off with the remainder of the beer. I hate booze (and cheese) going to waste.
