Fondue.
That was my one Valentine’s Day request this year. Six of eight wedding anniversaries have been celebrated at The Melting Pot, and both of those missed opportunities were due to living in Washington and lacking a babysitter. And taking a toddler to a fondue restaurant spells disaster. But I missed our annual fondue dinner, and after a friend mentioned she and her husband always make fondue at home for New Year’s Eve, we decided we needed take matters into our own hands.
So, I began scouring the internet for fondue pots, and came away with not one, but 2 Cuisinart pots for $45 each off of Amazon (it’s since gone up) and Dip Into Something Different, the Melting Pot’s own recipe book.
Best decision, ever.
We planned a big, 3 course dinner for Valentine’s Day. That morning, I did the grocery shopping and bought all of the ingredients I would need to make our pre-selected dinner recipes. It was hard to make a decision with so many different options, but we managed to narrow it down to a cheese, a cooking stock, 6 dipping sauces, 4 meats, 3 vegetables and 2 chocolates (and now you understand why we needed 2 pots).
We fed E and put her to bed a little early with a movie on her Kindle (again, no one wants a 3-year-old running around hot fondue pots). We plopped the baby in her Mamaroo, turned up the white noise, and started off with our cheese.
Garlic and Herb Cheddar Fondue. Served with jalapeno cheddar bread, tortilla chips, and Fuji apples.
We also drank a lot of wine…
Voodoo Cooking Style. Served with:
- Cilantro Lime Shrimp
- Island Pork (Jamaican-style)
- Balsamic steak
- Garlic and herb chicken
- potstickers
- mushrooms, broccoli, and potatoes
Sauces:
- Green goddess
- Herb aioli
- creamy horseradish
- creamy port gorgonzola
- herbed butter
- Island citrus
And we finished with dark chocolate raspberry chocolate and white chocolate butterscotch. I served those with cheesecake, brownies, strawberries, bananas, and heart-shaped marshmallows.
It was fabulous. And entirely too much food. We got through about 1/3 of the second course and realized that we should have made about 1/4 of what we did. So, we packed everything up and stuck it in the refrigerator. That, alone, was worth doing it at home. At the restaurant, you are stuffed half-way through the meal, but you have no choice but to keep going. Because, really, it’s not like you can just pack up everything and take it home.
Two days later, we broke out all of the leftovers and did it again. It was even better the second time–the flavors in everything, especially the sauces, were melded much better, especially in the creamy sauces, which were very mayo-heavy the first time around.
We have since vowed to set aside one night a week to do an at-home fondue date night. It’s the perfect date-night option, too, since it is so easily made gluten free (that particular challenge begins tomorrow). It forces us to take our time, talk to each other, and enjoy our food. However, in the coming weeks, we will definitely be scaling it back–2 meats at most and maybe only 2 courses.
I highly recommend at-home fondue date nights.
