Oven is broke...What to do with mozzarella?

[LuluTheMagnificent]

Got a hunk of it from Costco. Made chicken parm, now oven is broke. What do with it, expiring soon. Don't want to fry it.

[Floridagirl]

This is one I made up years ago: Take i lb. Italian sausage out of the casing. Brown it in a dutch oven in olive oil leaving it in small meatball sized chunks. Add 1-2 chopped onions and lots of garlic. Season to taste. Cook till onions are translucent. Add 1/2 head of chopped cabbage and one large can of tomatoes, broken up and cook till cabbage is done to your liking. Season to taste. Add 1/2 - 1 lb. diced mozzarella and cook until cheese starts to melt. Throw in some parm if you have it. Serve with Italian bread for dipping or, you can mix with some small shaped pasta. Also good with green beans, broccoli, or brussels sprouts instead of cabbage.

[chowser]

Marinate it in a vinaigrette, then use it in a panzanella. Along this recipe, only marinate the bite sized mozzarella first overnight to give it more flavor. I use different ingredients but this is the gist.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/panzanel...

[kseiverd]

Slightly OT, but on busted oven. Several years ago, original oven died. Stove top worked just fine, but due to age just knew a repair to oven might be a waste. Went 3-4 months without an oven until I could afford to replace whole thing. I used outdoor gas grill as make-shift oven during that time. Cooked meat/poultry out there in pans just like I would in oven... mostly over indirect heat. Even "baked" a cake and it didn't taste like BBQ!?!

[Njchicaa]

I've done lasagna on the grill before. Meatloaf too.

[Njchicaa]

cook up some gnocchi and saute baby spinach with garlic. Add gnocchi, cooked spinach, marinara sauce, and mozzarella cubes to a baking dish and bake until bubbly. So good! You could add sausage or mini meatballs too.

[scubadoo97]

At the least, just eat it. With a drizzle of good evoo. Balsamic for brightness if you prefer and fresh basil for a good dose of herbacious flavors. Salt and pepper if you see fit

[pdxgastro]

Mozzarella in Carrozza. Basically a grilled cheese/french toast hybrid.

Or, you could fire up the bbq and make pizza.

[LuluTheMagnificent]

I'm worried about pizza on the BBQ, I have a hard enough time making it in the oven. Do the coals have to be flaming. How does it work on a grill?

[alkapal]

no, no flames…just good and hot. 8" pizza grills up nicely and quickly. try it; you'll like it! it'll be one of your best pizzas ever.

[weezieduzzit]

Pizza on the grill is so easy and so good we haven't made one in the oven since the first time we tried it.

No flames! You wait until the flames have died down and the coals are glowing. It cooks VERY quickly and it's so easy! I'm sure there are instructions and maybe even videos online.

[JerryMe]

I've frozen it and used it later in things like lasagna. We inherited like a four pound block from a restaurant closing and after using it every which way to Sunday, I was mozz'd out. We froze the rest in manageable chunks for later use. It won't work well later, for things like caprese salad but it's still good melted.

[LuluTheMagnificent]

Good to know about freezing it. I don't know what a caprese salad is, going to look it up.

[Musie]

Do you have a toaster oven? When your oven isn't working those things are great. You could easily make mini pizzas or anything really that you might top with cheese, just be careful not to get too close to the elements.

But really, mozzarella has lots of uses. If it is a good quality you have, why not try making a caprese salad.

[LuluTheMagnificent]

No, but thinking of buying one.

[mcap]

cut it up and eat it

[LuluTheMagnificent]

I don't like that well. My ideal foods would be chicken parm again or pizza.

[foodieX2]

Do you have a grill? Works almost like an oven. You could make pizza, bruschetta, even bake a lasagna.

Grilled cheese and tomato sandwich on the stove top.

Is it grate-able? If so you could grate and freeze for when your oven is fixed.

You make "fried" mozzarella stick to dip in marinara. Guilty pleasure!

[LuluTheMagnificent]

Yes, I can grate it. Why do I have to grate it to freeze it?

[foodieX2]

You don't, just make its easier to use in pastas.

[sandylc]

I think Serious Eats has a stovetop CI pizza recipe/method.

[rasputina]

If you can find some hothouse tomatoes I'd make a caprese salad

[LuluTheMagnificent]

I'll look up a caprese salad and see what it is, thanks.

[alkapal]

you're not going to get any decent tomatoes unless you're in florida this time of year.

if you're not local with real sunshine tomatoes, skip the caprese, and go with a pressed, grilled sandwich (think prosciutto, arugula/basil & mozz) or a pasta where you can toss in the same things ;-). (maybe slice some grape tomatoes for the pasta, too -- and start with a few evoo-sauteed garlic slices).

[treb]

If it' fresh, cut up and marinade in evoo with spices and use in salads of just eat it as an app. If it's the block style mozz, shread and feeeze for future parms or pizza.

[LuluTheMagnificent]

I was thinking of putting some chunks in a salad.

[1sweetpea]

Have a panini party. Even if you don't have a panini press, you can make the sandwiches in a pan. If you have a heavy pan, heat it to piping hot and use it to weight down the top of each sandwich as the bottom is cooking in the pan. This will act as the press. Fillings can be anything from pesto, tomatoes, basil and mozzarella, to meatballs and mozzarella, or prosciutto, mozzarella and red pepper pesto or even hot pepper jelly. Combination possibilities are endless.

[Gio]

... and to gild the lily after you compose the sandwich dip the whole thing in beaten eggs then plop it on the skillet. You could even have individual bowls with marinara as a dipping sauce.

[LuluTheMagnificent]

I like this idea. Thanks!

[roxlet]

Make what the Italians call telephone wires. Make a simple marinara sauce. Toss pasta with it, and while it is hot, toss in small die of mozzarella. It will melt and as you eat it, the melted mozzarella will stretch and form telephone wires.

[LuluTheMagnificent]

This could work. Thank you.