Veggie Mountain Food – Cheese Fondue.
Big Cheese Make Me.
pop quiz: the lyric above is from what song and artist? clue: paradise may be stretching it a bit when you name your album after toilet cleaner.
No ski holiday would be complete without an evening sampling a traditional local dish in a traditional local restaurant. From the Tartiflette and Pierre Chaude found in every Savoyard ski resort restaurant to Kasespatzle and Schnitzel from ski resorts in the Tirol there is one thing about mountain food you can be certain of; you’ll love eating it, but will fear for the thickening of your artery walls.
I suggest you try to convince yourself that, having skied all day, eating a mountain of melted cheese/the side of a cow/enough carbs to get Mr Atkins turning in his grave is OK, and tuck in.
Being a veggie, a particular favourite of mine is the Cheese Fondue. With the advantages of being both a dish for sharing and for taking all evening before you finally give in, the Cheese Fondue can definitely be the social and culinary highlight of any ski trip, but what if you fancy trying to replicate the experience at home?
- I suppose my first response would be; Don’t!
- My second would be; do you know anyone old enough to have got married in the 70s and so likely to have a Fondue Set lurking in the back of a cupboard together with other unused wedding presents?
- My third would be; have a look online, there are tonnes of recipes available; how hard can it be?
Recipes for Cheese Fondue
Sainsbury’s recipe for an Beer Cheese Fondue is not what you might recognise as traditional, but give it a go! My recommendation of stuff to dip in includes:
- Bread chunks – needs to be crusty, a French stick that is a couple of days old is ideal.
- New potatoes – steam cooked with mint.
- Small pickled onions.
- Lightly roasted veg – peppers, courgette, mushrooms, butternut squash.
- Lightly steamed veg – asparagus, broccoli (purple sprouting is my fav.), cauliflower, baby corn.
Beware: Veggie stuff on a fork dipped into a thick cheese fondue is much more likely to fall off than meat!
As I said, this is not a traditional Cheese Fondue recipe; perhaps the most authentic one I can find is the one by David LeBovitz which is adapted from Austrian Chef, Willie Prutsch. But, as I also said, don’t do it, my own attempts have resulted in the same catastrophe experienced by Tania Tirraoro, so don’t say I didn’t warn you!
