Okay, so everyone knows those classic breaded mozzarella sticks that are crunchy and ooze cheese everywhere. I actually once choked on one because it was too cheesy. I still have an aversion to them to this day due to that incident. (FYI it was not a serious situation, just unpleasant.)

Well, the next time I remember ordering mozzarella sticks was in Israel. We were hosting Josh and Allison Kent for a Shabbos-day seudah and Josh was telling us about how great the mozzarella sticks at La Piedra were. The pizza we had already tasted, and like I said it’s worth a trip there the next time you have an opportunity (obviously ask your rav regarding any restaurant you eat in while in Israel because things change often there). But that Motzaei Shabbos we ventured out to La Piedra and I ordered the mozzarella sticks. I expected a schnitzel-like stick with cheese inside, but what I received was a pizza dough filled with mozzarella cheese. I enjoyed it so much more than the classic version that I committed  it to memory.

Now, three years later, writing my first dairy article I can finally share my version of the La Piedra mozzarella sticks. A few weeks ago, the Posen family had a pizza-making contest. There were many amazing pies made and everyone voted for their own pie (flawed grading system) so nobody or everyone won. Except for Rena and Dovid; they were the real winners because they deemed their roles in the competition to be the eaters. Let’s just say Dovid is more of a fleishig  chef. Although there was no official winner, I did award my sister-in- law Chana Sarah (@bakesandsteaks) with the best hack. She used string  cheese to make a stuffed crust pie…yum. So that is how I finally came up with a way to easily make mozzarella sticks without the hassle. I know this trick has been around for a while but I hadn’t seen it until then, so thanks, CS. To shake things up, I used assorted flavors of cheese sticks, but feel free to use whatever you like.