Feed Your Kids

One of my family’s favorite restaurants is The Melting Pot – a truly great fondue place. It is actually pretty family friendly, for a fairly nice place – assuming that your kids are well-behaved and open to dining experiences that don’t involve ketchup packets. It is our restaurant of choice for ALL birthdays, but it is expensive and time-consuming for day-to-day dining (not to mention that the only location in my town is at the OPPOSITE end of the city), so I thought it would be wise to come up with some sort of at-home substitute. This is my first attempt at the cheese course; we just made a dinner out of cheese and veggies (and leftover banana cake!). The recipe that I started with said to take one garlic clove, rub it on the inside of the cooking pot and then discard it. Hah! I would never do that and frankly just don’t understand why anyone would. If you want garlic in something, put it in…..but rub it on the pot and throw it away? That just seems silly. We LOVE garlic around here. I’d find a way to put it in dessert if I could (Candied Garlic Cheesecake with Sweet Balsamic Glaze?, Garlic Creme Brulee with Basil Coulis?, Roasted Garlic Mousse with Pinon Tuile?), so I just sauteed it and threw it in. If you’re not a garlic lover, feel free to ignore my recipe and rub your garlic anywhere you want……

It still doesn’t compare to the Melting Pot – their service is always excellent and my cheese was missing some little “zing” that I couldn’t place, but this was still GREAT and surprisingly quick and easy to throw together for a busy weeknight (one volleyball game, one occupational therapy session, one Taekwondo class……….and a partridge in a pear tree).

I know this recipe has a considerable amount of alcohol in it for a “family” meal. My theory is that the cheese is hot enough that the alcohol boils out. If I’m wrong, the worst case scenario is that Boy and Girl will sleep REALLY well tonight! Feel free to simmer a little longer (the cheese can actually bubble a little once it’s all “done”, if you stir continuously and keep the heat really low), if you should have concerns about this and want to be sure that the alcohol is completely cooked off.

Hubby only likes red wine, not white, and refuses to drink out of a stemmed glass. Our Italian gourmand brother-in-law introduced hubby to the concept of drinking wine out of small tumblers and that’s his method of choice now – hence the glass disparity.

Cheese Fondue

2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup dry white wine
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
2 cups grated Gruyere cheese
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
3 Tbsp. kirschwasser (cherry brandy liqueur)
a dash of salt, white pepper and nutmeg

Your choice of “dippers”: bread cubes, baby carrots, cauliflower and broccoli florets, halved baby Roma tomatoes, Granny Smith apple chunks, etc.

Toss cheeses and cornstarch together (I used a Ziploc). Saute garlic in a very small amount of olive oil in a medium-sized saucepan until just barely softened. Add wine and bring to a VERY slow simmer over low heat (don’t let wine boil). Stir in lemon juice. Add cheese/cornstarch mixture 1/2 cup at a time, stirring in a figure-8 pattern, rather than in circles (this keeps the cheese from sloshing out of the pan or clumping into a ball), until cheese is all melted. Stir in kirschwasser, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Put cheese in your fondue pot and dig (dip?) in!

An adaptation from Jeff Blank’s (the chef at Hudson’s on the Bend) wonderful cookbook, Cooking Fearlessly. Our neighborhood Gourmet Club brought this recipe to my attention at the perfect moment: when I had some leftover roasted butternut squash. I decided to use what I had on hand, add some sausage to make it a one-dish meal and then add Chef Jeff’s creative garnishes. My version did turn out pretty thick, so if I attempted this again, I would probably add more liquid.

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup with Sausage and Jerked Pumpkin Seeds

I am hesitant to even write a “recipe” here, since I’m sure that Chef Blank would think I butchered his recipe, but here’s the rundown, for anyone that wants to try it:

2 cups leftover roasted butternut squash (had been seasoned with a little cinnamon and curry)
2 peeled, cored, chopped Granny Smith apples
1 package sausage (I used Healthy Choice – it’s not the most “gourmet”, but it is arguably healthier)
about 3 cups chicken stock
about 1/4 cup half and half
1 more Granny Smith apple (peeled, cored and thinly julienned, for garnish)
3/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds
about 1/4 cup of your favorite “Jerk” seasoning
(Jeff Blank has a really tasty recipe in his book, with more curry and sugar than most have. I’m going to try his Jerk seasoning on some oven-toasted cashews sometime for a fun cocktail snack. Mmmmm…..)
1 and 1/2 Tbsp. melted butter

You will need to prepare the pumpkin seeds ahead of time:
Pour the melted butter over them, add the Jerk seasoning and stir. Bake at 250 degrees for about an hour, turning and stirring about every 15 minutes.

For the soup:
Heat the stock and squash together in a large saucepan. Add the apple and simmer until soft. Puree in small batches in the blender. Put the pureed soup back into the saucepan. Cut the sausage into bite-sized pieces and brown in a separate pan. Add the sausage to the soup. Add cream and gently heat, stirring to blend. Ladle into bowls, topping with a “clump” of the reserved, julienned apple and then a sprinkle of the pumpkin seeds.

This recipe is inspired by a pasta dish from a now-defunct Italian restaurant in my hometown. It’s VERY flavorful and rich and very filling. The pencil-thin asparagus spears are frozen, organic ones from Costco. This is a great cold weather comfort food; macaroni and cheese for grownups. It’s still quite warm here right now – maybe I was hoping that the cold weather food would bring on some actual cold weather! The kids loved this dish and the girl child even had seconds, which is rare for her, especially for a dish with meat in it. She is on the verge, I believe, of declaring herself a vegetarian.

Warning: Your kids will love this, but if they haven’t been blue cheese fans before, do NOT get all excited about the fact that they like it and take THAT moment to educate them about the mold that is necessary to make the cheese taste so good, etc. I got so excited about the possibility of making this for my family that I completely grossed the kids out (“Ewwww……mold?”)!

Whole Wheat Fusilli with Grilled Chicken & Asparagus in Gorgonzola/Parmesan Cream Sauce

1 pound whole wheat fusilli (or cavatappi, etc.)
2 1/4 cups half and half
1 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (about 1 cup)
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion
3/4 pound thinly sliced grilled (about 2 large or 3 small breasts) chicken
1 pound very thin, frozen asparagus spears
1 small shallot, finely chopped
1/4 cup white wine (I used Rex Goliath Pinot Grigio, because it’s what I had on hand)
1/4 cup chicken stock
1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, coarsely chopped
salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 cup butter (half a stick)
2 Tablespoons flour, optional, for thickening

Put a large pasta pot of water on to boil. Melt butter in a separate, large saucepan. Saute the onion and shallots in butter until onions are soft. Add wine and chicken stock. Simmer to reduce until liquid is almost gone. Add cream, rosemary, salt and pepper. Bring cream to a simmer; simmer 10 – 15 minutes over low-medium heat. While cream simmers, cook asparagus and pasta, according to package directions. When cool enough to handle, cut each asparagus spear into bite-sized pieces. Slowly, whisk in cheeses until sauce is slightly thickened. If sauce is not thick enough, add a little hot liquid to flour, stirring to blend. Immediately put back into sauce, stirring constantly until sauce thickens. Add chicken and asparagus. Drain pasta. Ladle sauce over pasta and serve immediately. Makes 4 – 6 servings.