Swiss Fondue

The pressure of a New Years Eve Dinner Menu is enough to put even me over the edge.  Although I love getting all of my cookbooks out and menu planning I was pretty pooped from all of the Christmas cooking and planning and even I was almost sick of thinking about food.  I was just out of ideas, or out of good ideas at least.  I consulted with a good friend of mine and fellow foodie on menu suggestions and she suggested a fondue menu.  It was simple and didn't mean all the perfect timing required with the other elaborate options that I was pondering.

We served this fondue with bread cubes (of course), baby red skinned potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower and also had another fondue pot with oil.  With that we served even more veggies, cubed steak and several dipping sauces.  And what fondue party is not complete without chocolate fondue for dessert.  It was a really fun, interactive menu but does take a considerable more time than a normal meal.  Which I don't think is such a bad thing.  Sometimes I feel like we spend so much time making a meal only to have it consumed in twenty or thirty minutes and then on to the task of dishes or whatever.  In fact this took so long that we missed the party we were supposed to head to, so I would caution you to plan accordingly if you do the whole menu.  But definitely do it.  It is so much fun and then when the guests arrive the hostess can have fun too.

Part of the reason I initially wanted to make this fondue was because it made me think back to another year that we had fondue on the menu for New Years Eve.   As we toasted the New Year of 2005 we made this same fondue recipe at my parent's house.  Johnny and I haven't spent many New Years Eves at my parents, but for whatever reason that year it worked out for us to.  I think most of my siblings decided to stay in that night and we made Fondue.  Not the whole menu that I did this year, but for a cheese lover like myself this is the one I like best anyway.  I remember sitting in the living room at my parents house over a fondue pot that I think my sister got for Christmas, or maybe it was mine.  Either way we all wished one another a Happy New Year over champagne and ooey gooey cheese.  And it was a damn good year, 2005.  It was the year I got engaged and the year I was promoted at work.  So for superstitious sake this was another good reason to ring in the new year with this recipe.  Its only day two, but I'm pretty sure the fondue is the clincher that is going to make my year.  Hoping 2010 is one of your best years yet.  Happy New Year to you and your family!

Trish's Tips:  We learned the hard way, but do NOT put the flame on an empty fondue pot.  Only put the flame under it after the cheese (or whatever liquid) is in the ceramic pot.  It will crack and you will be fondue-less.  Any cheese fondue takes somewhat of a careful moderation of temperature.  I usually use my electric pot (which is a great investment in my opinion) but we used that for the oil fondue so I used a small ceramic pot instead and the little tea light could only do so much.  Once the cheese gets really stringy it needs to be warmed up.  If you have leftoers, don't pitch, they will reheat easily in the microwave.

Swiss Fondue

Ingredients:
1.25 lb Gruyere Cheese
.65 lb Emmentaler Cheese
1 garlic clove, smashed
1 TBL plus 1 tsp cornstarch
1 1/2 C white wine
2 tsp lemon juice
1 1/2 TBL kirsch, optional
pepper
nutmeg

Directions:

Cut off rind from cheeses.  You should be left with about 1 lb. of gruyere and 1/2 lb of Emmentaler.  Shred cheeses on a box grater or food processor.  Put aside.  Dissolve cornstarch in wine.  Heat saucepan over medium-low heat.  Rub smashed garlic clove on inside of pan until fragrant.  Heat wine/cornstarch mixture and lemon juice over medium heat and bring to a boil.  Stir cheese in graduatlly stirring until combined and no longer stringy.  Stir in the kirsch if using and sprinkle with pepper and ground nutmeg.  Transfer to a fondue stand immediately and serve with cut up bread cubes.