Crispy Fried Broccoli and Peppers

Yesterday was Morgan’s birthday. (19! How does that happen?) She’ll be home this weekend, and having her birthday dinner tonight. One of her favorite restaurants is Red Lobster, so I decided to make her a Red Lobster birthday dinner–at home. I’ll be grilling a seafood mix for her–lobster tails, shrimp, mussels, calamari, and octopus–along with mashed potatoes, peas, and of course a batch of my knock-off Cheddar Bay biscuits. Her favorite appetizer at Red Lobster is the one that includes crispy fried and breaded broccoli and peppers, so I wanted to make that for her, too.

I have no idea how they make this at Red Lobster, so I decided I’d better practice first. Here’s how I made it.

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Crispy Fried Broccoli and Peppers:

1 cup broccoli florets*
1 cup peppers, sliced lengthwise
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
oil for frying

*I used fresh broccoli.

Heat the oil in the pan. Prepare the vegetables then whisk the egg in a small bowl. Whisk in milk then the dry ingredients except for the breadcrumbs. I just put all the vegetables in together in the batter, stirred to coat….

….then dumped the breadcrumbs on top….

….and stirred to coat again.

Then you just pop them in the hot oil and fry.

Turn after a minute or so. This only takes a few minutes to cook. You just want the vegetables to be browned all over.

If you’re keeping them warm to serve, place the vegetables on a crisper pan until it’s time. This is great with Ranch dressing for a dip.

This came out amazingly like the appetizer at Red Lobster. I was very pleased with my concoction! Can’t wait to cook it again tonight to serve to my 19-year-old baby.

Note: You could, of course, use any other vegetables you like! And increase the amount of batter and breadcrumbs based on how much vegetables you want to fry.

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