Ultimate Romantic Dinner - Fondue

In lieu of Valentine's Day tomorrow, I was thinking about a truly romantic dinner. What should that entail exactly? Is it having someone cook you a great meal? Is it cooking together? Should it be extravagant and complicated? I think there needs to be a delicate balance between cooking and enjoying on a sensitive day like V-day. Someone cooking for you is nice but that would require spending some time apart. Cooking together and doing it well is a romantic notion to me but it can go awry when trying to do something overly complicated.

The answer... FONDUE! It's simple to prepare and it just requires 15-20 minutes of prep work. While one person melts the cheese into a sauce, the other can prepare all the dippers. Team work people!

Ingredients:

1/2 lb Swiss
1/2 lb Gruyere
1 cup white wine
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)

Suggested Dippers:

Bread
Apples
Chorizo sausage
Baby potatoes
Broccoli

Directions:

Grate the cheeses into a bowl and toss with the cornstarch.

Heat your fondue bowl (read the directions on your specific fondue bowl, some can be heated on stove while others need to be transferred) or a pot over medium low heat. Rub the inside of the pot with garlic. Discard the garlic for a subtle garlic taste but I don't think there is ever enough garlic. I mince the garlic and put it into the pot with wine. Bring the wine and garlic up to a simmer.


Add cornstarch coated cheese slowing to the simmering wine a little at a time until all the cheese is melted. Add pepper and nutmeg. The cheese sauce should have the consistency of a thick sauce that coats the back of a spoon but drips smoothly. If the cheese sauce is a little thick, add a bit more wine. If too thin, sprinkle in some more cornstarch.

Prepare all the dippers into a good dipping size. Boil the potatoes until fork tender. Blanch the vegetables for a couple minutes before eating.