It's like my color coded cookbook shelf can anticipate my mood. Last week was a WEEK, Tuesday felt like I'd already slogged through 6 days, so the magical shelf provided me with the comforting respite of melted, oozy, gooey cheese. Of course, I had other choices of fondue (cooking in wine, butter, beer, or hot pot broth) - but who can resist a dinner of cheese, bread, and maybe some fruit/veg thrown in to make it look good?
This meal had the added benefit of celebrating my husband's birthday with some food from the decade of his birth (the roaring 70's). Stay tuned to see if that was successful.
Ingredients:
Fondue:
1 clove garlic
1 c. dry white wine
10 oz Emmenthaler cheese, diced or shredded
10 oz Gruyere cheese, diced or shredded [Safeway decided to sub the chunk of aged gruyere I ordered for sliced deli Swiss cheese ... I have so many questions]**
1 1/2 TB potato flour or cornstarch mixed with 1/4 c. kirsch [I used calvados because I'm not buying a full bottle of kirsch for a 1/4 cup - you can also sub in vodka or gin]
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg [Let's be honest, I used powdered...who has time for fresh nutmeg?]
[I also added salt, probably 1/2 tsp]
Dippables:
Chunks of crusty bread
Granny Smith apples
Roasted broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots
Zucchini
Kielbasa
Accoutrement:
Cornichons [they cut the richness of the cheese]
**Note: I went to the specialty grocery store, stared at the Gruyere, went looking for a reasonably sized piece, then came home and realized that I had picked up Raclette cheese. I do love a good Raclette...I'm hoping the cheese works with the others!
Prep your dippables - the fondue comes together pretty quickly (~7-10 minutes). I roasted some vegetables and the kielbasa (not shown), boiled baby potatoes, and cut up the bread and apples.
Rub a garlic clove around a medium, heavy saucepan. Either discard or finely chop and add to the pan.
Place pot over medium-high heat, add wine, and bring to the point of boiling. Immediately reduce heat to low and add cheese, stirring slowly in a figure eight pattern until cheese is just melted. It should melt very slowly - about 5 minutes in all [Mine took longer - I had it super low] - otherwise, it may become stringy and tough.
Add potato flour/cornstarch/alcohol mixture, pepper, and nutmeg to the cheese mixture. Simmer for about 2 minutes more. The fondue should gently sputter, not boil. (It should be thick enough to just cover the bread; it will thicken at the table)
Pour the fondue into a warmed fondue pot and serve immediately.
After arming our two year old with a long pointy fork and gorging ourselves on cheese, we've decided that perhaps fondue at home isn't for us, at least cheese. I found it tasty, my husband declared it his least favorite of all of my blog meals to date, and the two year old declared resolutely that she would not try it (while eating kielbasa off her scary fork). All in all, much more fun hitting La Fondue with friends (although ask me again if we make chocolate fondue!).
Comments