Fondue
One of the most important things to share with your loved ones is your traditions and stories! By sharing these memories and special moments, we learn about our family and are able to keep those people and memories alive! It IS important. If you have a favorite recipe, get it! Get the story, get the recipe! Even if grandma or your aunt had it in their head, and they will say a pinch of this or a pinch of that, have them write it down. Now, you have their handwriting, and you will not believe how much it will mean to you years down the road. I have my grandmothers’ recipes, my aunts’, and even on my husband’s side of the family, I have both grandmothers and aunts. My husband’s grandmother, who we call Oma, would write comments on some of her recipes like that wasn’t very good, add this or add that. Some of her comments literally made me laugh out loud! It also gives you a glimpse into what their favorite foods were. One of the grandmother’s must have loved casseroles because the majority of her recipes were some sort of casserole dish while the other grandmother definitely had a sweet tooth because I swear all of her recipes were desserts!
Before my husband and I had children (in some cases, before marriage), we always tried to do something special for Valentine’s Day, and yet it still never seemed to go as planned. I am SURE many of you can relate to this. One year when my husband and I were either still dating or in our first years of marriage, I decided I wanted to go to a restaurant in Buckhead that was known for their cheesecakes. We had never been, and thought Valentine’s Day would be the perfect time. What were we thinking? BIG MISTAKE. Our reservations were for 7:30 that night. We arrived about ten minutes early. Thinking, ok, we are doing good! We waited, and waited, 8:30, 9:30…10:30 that night we were FINALLY seated. It was awful. The restaurant not only double booked, but tripled booked as well ON VALENTINE’S DAY. What were they thinking? That night, my husband and I vowed to NEVER go out to dinner on Valentine’s Day again. So, jump forward to the future when we now have children. Valentine’s Day was coming up, and I was trying to figure out something to do. I didn’t want to go out and leave our girls at home with a babysitter. So, instead of making Valentine’s Day only about my husband and I, I had the idea of making that day special for all of us. Peter and I have had fondue in the past, but not just for dessert, we actually had an entire meal that was cooked in a fondue pot. I knew my girls, and husband, were going to LOVE this! That week, I got everything we needed from the grocery store from the food and even decided to go all out and add some decorations. I got a small gift for each of my daughters, and something for my husband and placed them in each of their chairs at the kitchen table. No one was allowed in the kitchen area until dinner. I had prepared everything earlier that day – cut up the chicken, peeled the shrimp, cut up the steak and the vegetables. I had all the different sauces out to try as well. I set the table in pink and red to make it festive. Before dinner, I lit candles and put on the radio with some nice music. No television. I dimmed the lights since we needed a bit more light to eat by than just candles. I had the oil heating in the fondue pot. I then called everyone into the kitchen. The look on both of my girl’s faces was priceless. They thought this was the coolest thing ever! We were going to cook dinner AT the KITCHEN table! They did not even know this was possible. We each had our colored skewers to put into the fondue pot and dug in. The girls tried every meat, every vegetable, and every sauce. SUCCESS! And, a new tradition was made. We might not have been able to do it every year as the girls got older and were involved in sports, but we made sure to do it when we could. In their teenage years, they would have a Galentine’s dinner with their girlfriend’s and did fondue at my house when they did not have boyfriends. It gives me great joy that they remember this and it made such an impact on them. Giving them memories and traditions to share with their future families is what brings me so much joy. You never know the impact a meal tradition can have on your family!
Fondue
Fondue pot with forks
Plates or fondue plates (they are sectioned so you have a place for your dressings and food)
2 chicken breasts, boneless & skinless cut into 1 inch pieces
Steak, buy a steak that is tender such as strip steaks. Cut the fat off and cut into 1 inch pieces
Broccoli (buy already cut bagged broccoli)
Mushrooms, 8 oz. quartered or small whole
1lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails off
Zucchini, 1 to 2 cups peeled cut into 1 inch julienne strips
Ginger dressing
Thousand Island dressing or Yum Yum sauce from your local Japanese Steakhouse restaurant or make your own
Steak Sauce – A-1 or your favorite
Honey mustard dressing
Grapeseed oil
Cut all the meats and vegetables. Place each one in separate bowls. Place the shrimp in its bowl as well. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to use; then, place on the table when ready to use.
Fill the fondue pot about halfway with either the grapeseed oil or peanut oil. Heat on medium heat, 250 – 300°, being careful not to get the oil too hot. It does not take long for the oil to heat up, about 10 minutes or less. The grape seed oil is lighter than regular vegetable oil letting the food be tasted rather than masked by oil.
To check to see if the pots are ready, place a piece of broccoli in each pot. If the pots begin to boil gently, cooking the food, you are ready to fondue.
With the skewers, place one to two pieces of meat, seafood, or vegetables on each skewer, and carefully place in one of the pots. For meats such as chicken and steak, it will take longer to cook about 5 minutes. The steak can be pink instead, but the chicken should be fully cooked with no pink inside. The shrimp and vegetables cook much faster, usually a few minutes. Choose which sauces to have and experiment with each.
Fondue
Ingredients
- Fondue pot with forks
- Plates or fondue plates (they are sectioned so you have a place for your dressings and food)
- 2 chicken breasts, boneless & skinless, cut into 1 inch pieces
- Steak, buy a steak that is tender such as strip steaks. Cut the fat off and cut into 1 inch pieces
- Broccoli (buy already cut bagged broccoli)
- Mushrooms, 8 oz. quartered or small whole
- 1lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails off
- Zucchini, 1 to 2 cups peeled cut into 1 inch julienne strips
- Ginger dressing
- Thousand Island dressing or Yum Yum sauce from your local Japanese Steakhouse restaurant or make your own
- Steak Sauce – A-1 or your favorite
- Honey mustard dressing
- 1-2 bottles of Grapeseed oil
Instructions
- Cut all the meats and vegetables. Place each one in separate bowls. Place the shrimp in its bowl as well. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to use; then, place on the table when ready to use.
- Fill the fondue pot about halfway with grapeseed oil. Heat on medium heat, 250° – 300°, being careful not to get the oil too hot. It does not take long for the oil to heat up, about 10 minutes or less.
- To check to see if the pots are ready, place a piece of broccoli in each pot. If the pots begin to boil gently, cooking the food, you are ready to fondue.
- With the skewers, place one to two pieces of meat, seafood, or vegetables on each skewer, and carefully place in one of the pots.
- For meats such as chicken and steak, it will take longer to cook about 5 minutes. The steak can be pink instead, but the chicken should be fully cooked with no pink inside. The shrimp and vegetables cook much faster, usually a few minutes.
- Choose which sauces to have and experiment with each. Enjoy!