Five dive into a Fondue

 This week is Fondue. It's a cheat and I know it. I know they will all eat bread and cheese. It is not exactly 'expanding the repetoire'. But, hey, after last week's debacle I needed to deliver something everyone would be keen on.

We watch a cute clip from a site which must be sponsored by the Swiss government about traditional folk dancing which thrives in the mountains in summer. The kids run upstairs to find their red gear and transform themselves into Swiss flags. We find some rather plinky plonky accordian music on the internet. I did mean to get the laptop set up with some holiday pictures because we've actually been to Switzerland as a family. We've even been to the Gruyere cheese factory - and the (ahem, Nestle) chocolate factory. But I didn't quite make that happen. 

It was at least (sort of) all 'one-pot' today. And, apart from nervous moments about whether or not such a large amount of cheese is actually going to dissolve into such a small amount of wine, easy to cook.

Swiss cheese fondue

Ingredients

• 1 clove garlic, halved
• 350ml dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc
• 300g Gruyère cheese, grated
• 300g Emmental cheese, grated
• 3 tsp cornflour
• 2-3 tbsp Kirsch
• Freshly ground black pepper
• (I used a bit of Comte cheese as we didn't have enough Gruyere)

• To serve
• 1 large baguette, cut into bite-sized cubes
• A variety of uncooked vegetables, chopped up.

Method

1. Rub the cut side of the garlic clove around the inside of your fondue pot. Discard the garlic.
2. Add the wine and bring it to the boil on a medium heat on the stove. Turn the heat down and add the cheese in handfuls, stirring until it melts.
3. Mix the cornflour with the Kirsch, and stir into the cheese. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring, until it is thick and creamy, then remove from the heat. Add pepper to taste.
4. Fondue should have a smooth, thick-sauce texture. If it is too thin, add more cheese, or stir in a little more cornflour, blended with wine. If it's too thick, stir in warmed white wine. If the fondue separates, keep stirring and it should recover. If not, add a squeeze of lemon juice or a teaspoon of cornflour dissolved in wine.

Move the pot to a burner on the table. Stirring often to keep the fondue smooth, spear the bread on fondue forks and dunk into the cheese.



REACTION
All good. Well, actually they didn't know what a 'fondue' was (though we've shared one with the big cousins once) and there were some upturned noses at the smell, Mr Middle was appalled at the fact I was pouring wine in the saucepan and the Youngest said 'Is this it?' referring the plate of cut raw veg. But Middle's face lit up when he realised the long thin skewers were to be the only cutlery and then he declared it was just like cheese on toast and we were on the home straight. We reminisced about holidays and talked about Swiss bankers and got a little sidetracked by Hitler when we mentioned that Switzerland was neutral during WW2. (N and I are rapidly being exposed as parents Who Do Not Know Very Much About Anything!).

THE VERDICT

• Middle: I liked it because it was just veg and fruit.
• Eldest: I loved the chocolate (see later - dessert).
• Youngest: I loved the food because you can dip it into the chocolate and cheese.
• Me: I loved the fact I managed to hide the fact we were also having a chocolate fondue (is it a Swiss thing at all - I doubt it!) and so the kids thought we were just having chopped fruit. Ye hay!

PUDDING
Why is fresh fruit dipped into melted chocolate sooooooooooo yummy? I don't think we got to the bottom of this conundrum. We were a bit busy stuffing our faces to talk at all at this point. And incredibly all too full in the end to scrape the last of the chocolate sauce up. Though Youngest had a pretty good go at cleaning his plate!

OTHER RELEVANT LEARNING

• Have more chocolate for pudding.
• Do yodelling next time.
• Don't show them the wine you're adding to their meals.
• Avoid cuisines heavy on bread and cheese if I am actually going to teach them anything.

A friend texted to say that her Lovely J had liked the idea of Travelling Tuesdays so much they were going to try it at home. While we were in Switzerland, mirroring the snowy weather outside our own front door, they were swanning around Jamaica trying to escape it. I even heard that the two coconut-hating boys in that household ate all their West Indian Coconut and Apple cake... And if that's not a good advert for putting a little effort in on a school night, I don't know what is!