This week at Fresh Choice Nelson, we’re welcoming back Paula Saengthian-Ngam as our guest blogger (Find Paula on Facebook). If you love local cheeses, this recipe is for you… This week Paula’s stepping back in time to the seventies!
It’s a blast from the past, but something that is so comforting and delicious; it will also allow you to sample some of the delicious local cheeses at Fresh Choice Nelson… Cheese Fondue!
I managed to find a couple of retro fondue sets online some time ago; and after the very wet weekend we’ve had I thought it would be a fun dinner for the kids on Sunday evening.
There are so many ideas for what can be dipped into the piping hot cheese sauce. We went with warm sourdough bread, carrot sticks, roasted potato and kumara chunks, grilled mushrooms, steamed brocolliand spicy chorizo sausage. The ideas are plentiful, give things a go and see if they work. It’s a great way to get vegetables into fussy eaters.
For the sauce choose some of the local cheeses available at Fresh Choice Nelson, they stock a huge range. I find a mix works well. Something sharp and strong and then some subtle rich and creamy cheeses balance nicely.
You don’t have to have a fondue set to enjoy this sauce as it is made in a sauce pan and poured into the fondue to keep it warm. Just heat up a dish to serve it in an eat immediately.
Fondue Cheese Sauce
- 50 gm butter
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1 tbsp chopped thyme
- 2 cups full cream milk
- Salt & pepper to season
- 100 gm cheese. Use some local cheeses. I used a mix of Wangapeka Ricketts Road for its soft, subtle creamy character and then a sharp Parmesan and a little Gruyere I had leftover in the fridge.
Method
- Melt butter
- Stir in the flour, cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Take off the heat and gradually stir in the milk to get a smooth sauce.
- Return to the heat stirring all the time and bring to the boil.
- Simmer for 6 minutes, season and stir in the cheese until it melts.
- Serve immediately with prepared bread and other dipping choices.
- Enjoy!
