Rekindle An Old Flame With Fondue

About author / Amy Powell

World traveler; gourmet 30 minute meals; lover of exotic ingredients; winner on FoodTV's Chefs vs City; graduate French Culinary Institute. Her recipes will tantalize your taste buds.

Remember when you fell in love? And sometime after that there was a ring. After the ring came a bridal shower… and the three identical wooden salad bowls. After that came the wedding… and the bread machine that now gathers dust in the back of the cupboard. Now maybe five, ten years, even decades later, you have a kitchen full of things, things that can trace the progression of your relationship from first romance to life-long partners. And yet with all those memories attached to the things that fill the kitchen, all you use are the everyday dishes and the same old pots and pans.

If Valentine’s Day is a day to rekindle and celebrate romance, then why not dig up some of those kitchen items from the good old days to bring you right back to that time when it was all fresh and you got excited to open a wedding present, even if that present was the fourth rice cooker you received that day?

Chances are if you were married any time after 1970, then a fondue pot was either on your gift registry, or you were gifted one whether you liked it or not. The idea is certainly intriguing: melt chocolate, melt cheese, or heat oil, dip fruits, veggies, meat, etc., and eat. It may seem complicated, but once the set up is complete, the thing to be dipped into the cheese or chocolate simply couldn’t be easier to make.

In the event you are unfamiliar with fondue pots and were not gifted one for your wedding, the basic set up consists of a ceramic, metal, or cast iron pot that is set upon a small stand over a candle or oil lit flame. The flame then keeps the mixture inside the pot molten while guests take skewers tipped with various foods to be dipped inside the pot.

The chocolate fondue seems like a natural choice for Valentine’s Day, but cheese fondue can be a complete dinner for your significant other, and can be assembled in a matter of minutes. A classic cheese fondue is made with a melting cheese such as gruyere. For something more decadent, the gruyere can be mixed with any number of cheeses that melt well, such as brie, emmenthaler, or even goat. The important thing is that whatever combination of cheeses you use, make sure they are complementary and of the highest quality.

What you use to dip into the cheese is where the creativity comes in. Bread cubes are the easiest and most common accompaniment. Fruits, such as Asian or Bartlett pears or Granny Apple slices, all work well. Cubes of beef fillet add luxury to an already decadent meal. Baby gherkins are a lovely accent on the plate but also pair fabulously with molten cheese.

The thing that makes fondue the perfect dish for resurrecting romance from the depths of your cupboard is that fondue is just plain sexy. Try watching your husband or wife dip an Asian pear into gruyere fondue, licking the cheese off before it begins to drip, and then taking the skewer to place the whole cheese coated fruit into his or her mouth. What’s more, sharing a dish, especially one that is practically designed to feed to someone else off the tip of your own skewer, is simply romance in the making. Just try and pretend like that’s not hot.

Fondue parties may have gone the way of bell bottoms and disco balls, but a classic fondue dinner for two makes for an evening that is intimate, nostalgic, and potentially adventurous. So rather than defaulting to the same old cheesy chocolate and teddy bear gifts this Valentine’s Day, get out some real quality cheese, dig up the old fondue pot, and just see where the night takes you.

Serves/Makes: 2

• 3/4 pound Gruyere cheese
• 1/2 pound brie, rind removed
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 lemon
• 4 teaspoons corn starch
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper
• salt
• white pepper

***Optional Accompaniments***

• fruits
• breads
• vegetables
• gherkin pickles
• medium rare beef filet cubes