Today was a bit chilly compared to the past week and it has been raining all evening. I’ve also been trying to cut down on my sugar consumption. All these factors combined left me craving something warm, delicious, and indulgent. My normal go-to cure for rainy-day blues would be a cup of rich, dark, hot chocolate accompanied by a cookie and some truffles (I’ve written about my idea of a delicious hot chocolate afternoon snack before). Given the fact that I am trying to reduce my sugar-intake for the next week though, hot chocolate was not an option. What then?
I wanted something special, a treat, and something warm…and then, I hit upon it: Fondue! I made several winter trips to Basel (a little town in Switzerland), when I lived in Europe a few years ago. I was even there for the Basler Fasnacht!
Anyway, I digress, my point is, naturally, one of my favourite things to do in Switzerland was eat Fondue! For lunch, dinner, and dessert! It was delicious! Fondue, I shall make, I decided.
Mmmm. It definitely hit the spot!
This is a fairly simple recipe, with very few ingredients involving even fewer steps. So go for it if you’re at the tail end of a chilly day or in the middle of a cold winter day!
Ingredients:
1/4 pound Gruyere Cheese
1/4 pound Emmentaler Cheese
1/2 Tbsp Corn Starch
A couple of splashes of Kirsch (If you don’t have this, skip it and use a 1/2 Tbsp of lemon juice, instead)
1/2 cup any white wine
1 pod of garlic
A sprig of Rosemary
Ground Pepper (optional)
Toasted slices of bread or blanched vegetables of your choice, to dip into the Fondue
Method:
- Grate the cheese. I used a food processor, which makes grating faster and easier.
- Cut the garlic clove in half and rub it all over the insides of a small, heavy bottomed pot.
- Heat the wine on medium-heat in the garlic-coated pot.
- In the meantime, dissolve the cornstarch in the Kirsch. If you don’t have Kirsch, toss the grated cheese with the cornstarch to lightly coat the cheese with the starch.
- Once the wine is simmering, add the Kirsch-starch solution, if using.
- Next, add the cheese by the handful, waiting for each handful of cheese to melt, before adding the next. Keep stirring in between each round of cheese being added. (At this stage, if you did not use Kirsch, add a half tablespoon of lemon juice.)
- Once the cheese is all melted, transfer the cheese to a fondue pot, if you have one. If you don’t have one, and your fondue thickens while you’re eating it, reheat the fondue, on low heat, with a splash of wine.
- Dip toasted bread and/or vegetables and go Mmmmm!
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