Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope you all had a wonderful day, whether attached or not… After being surprised with a mani/pedi from one of my favorite spas, Adam and I spent a relaxing day at the public library and doing our taxes, and then got going on tonight’s special romantic meal.
It’s such a stereotype: the newlywed couple spends their first Valentine’s Day as husband and wife over a lovely slow meal of fondue… and it’s a stereotype Adam and I were thrilled to indulge in!
When we were first together (Winter 2004-2005), I used to make us pots of cheese fondue for dinner. We’d go through a good 2 loaves of French bread, and probably 2 lbs. of cheese over the course of a night. Things have certainly changed, though my fondue recipe hasn’t! We so rarely indulge in food such as cheese fondue, so we figured Valentine’s Day was the perfect opportunity.
Adam cut up some fluffy French bread:
and a crisp Fuji apple:
as I stood at the stove and made my favorite cheddar-beer fondue. I asked around about what I should make, Cheddar or Swiss fondue, and while the response was overwhelming towards Swiss cheese, I just couldn’t do it. The intent of staying in on V-Day was to save money… and spending $30 on enough cheese and liquor for white cheese fondue defeated that purpose! Instead, I went with Cheddar. For those of you without a fondue pot, never fear! A small sauce pot and hot plate work just fine. In fact, this is the first fondue set I’ve ever had!
The process and recipe is easy, as taught to me by my mom:
Ingredients
14 oz. extra sharp cheddar cheese
1 12 oz. bottle dark beer (I used Negro Modelo)
1 Tbsp. dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 Tbsp. olive oil
flour for dusting
Directions
Grate 14 oz. extra sharp cheddar cheese. Dust lightly with flour. Set aside. Heat the olive oil and garlic in your fondue pot (or other pot). Add mustard and stir well until lightly browned. Add the bottle of beer and cook until reduced by about 1/4. Whisk in handfuls of the floured cheese, stirring until fully melted. Add handful by handful until all the cheese is added and the fondue is thick. Simmer on low heat a few minutes. Transfer to your fondue burner (or hot plate) and enjoy!
Originally, this was going to be a two-course fondue meal with a meat/seafood cooked in broth course… but we got too full! (Don’t forget to SpringPad the fondue recipe!)
We finished off the carbo-loading meal with decadent chocolate lava cakes from Jenn! She was kind enough to get us a kit with ramekins and the mix as a wedding gift, and we’ve been saving it since! I had every intent of doing the double dessert thing I spoke of yesterday in Cute Food Saturday, but we both wanted chocolate… so chocolate we had!
These were supposed to be inverted onto a plate and served out of the ramekin… but this is what happened when I did one of them:
Big gooey chocolatey mess… with a curved divot in it from where the ramekin fell. It was still amazingly decadent and delicious, and I now feel like I have a brick in my stomach. I think I’m going to have some tea while we watch a movie… there’s cool stuff coming to our house this week that I’m SUPER excited for, but I’ll save the surprises. You may have noticed the OpenSky picture in my sidebar…that picture will bring you RIGHT to my shop, where you can buy all sorts of amazing kitchen goodies. Check them out!
Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine’s Day!
Tagged as:
Baking,
cheese,
dessert,
family recipe,
fondue,
holiday,
simple,
simple recipe,
vegetarian
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Looks yummy! Happy VDay Mara!
I love fondue, we did a chocolate one last year. The experience is half the fun. Those lava cakes look awesome – chocolate is the best type of cake, IMO!
.-= Run Sarah´s last blog ..Full Weekend Off =-.
Fondue is one of the most romantic dinners, I am convinced. We went to The Melting Pot for our 5 year anniversary and it was one of the very best experiences of our entire relationship. Something so sexy about dipping food in pots of cheese and chocolate. Very sensual!
Glad you had a wonderful VDay sweetheart!
.-= Lauren´s last blog .."Ya tebya liubliu" =-.
Love fondue! I have never made it with cheddar cheese, it looks delish!
fondue is really fun to eat! Glad you had a great V-day!
.-= coco´s last blog ..Argentinean party in Chinese New Year Eve =-.
I actually prefer that you made it with cheddar! Sounds delicious! And those lava cakes!!! Doesn’t matter what they look like, I know how good they must have tasted.
I love fondue. I’ve only used our fondue pot once since we got it for our wedding a few years back. We are having friends visiting from out of state next month, so I think that will be the perfect time to bring it back….with this recipe!
Nothing better than cheezy fondue! The first time we used Swiss cheese, but the kids didn’t like it, so its been cheddar since then – now I want fondue!
Enjoy your day off!
Mmmm fondue! Looks great – never had it though! I’ve always meant to, but my plans get foiled. Happy V-day!
ooh! We made fondue too but I’m definitely going to have to do save your recipe. We used hard apple cider and it was pretty good but I prefer dark beers most of the time.
Awesome! Any stereotype that includes fondue is one that I would be a part of too!!
Glad you had a fun night…and I am glad your doctor’s appointment went well (ala Twitter…haha!)
That fondue looks amazing! I’ve never made one at home and seeing that takes me back to our holiday in Switzerland 2 years ago. That fondue was incredible!
Never mind about your desert – you have to break it to eat it!
.-= Jo @ SeekingHealthyBalance´s last blog ..Leftovers Rule! =-.
cheese and chocolate are probably two of my favorite things to eat! my jaw dropped open when i saw your big gooey chocolate mess (even though that wasn’t the presentation you were going for!)….i want to reach into my computer and eat that now!
.-= Tyler´s last blog ..Honey, I have a food blog. V-Day 2010. =-.
Melty cheese and gooey, chocolate mess? You don’t need to say anything more. What a delicious Valentine’s Day meal! Hope you had a great Monday
.-= K´s last blog ..Peaches ‘N Cream =-.
Love this post! Fondue is such a delicious meal
I really would like a kit.
SO glad you liked the Ghirardelli cakes, even if they did flop around a bit! Happy belated Valentine’s Day to you, miss!
I lurve fondue! A fondue pot is on my wish list but dang it they are so expensive now that fondue is cool again.
.-= Andrea (Off Her Cork)´s last blog ..Thoughts on Bison Steaks =-.
Mmmmmmm, fondue! What a fun and romanticc dinner!
.-= Spiceaholic´s last blog ..Feeling bleh =-.