Sunday, January 18, 2009

Chinese Fondue


Last night we had a terrific evening of eating. My friends Zoya and Marc were in town and since they love eating as much as I do, I figured what better way to spend the evening then eating all night long. We started off with some cheese and crackers, veggies and dip, capers, garlic stuffed olives, homemade nuts and bolts and some salmon stuffed pastries. After a little break, we moved on to the fondue. Zoya brought some chinese meat (thinly sliced beef) since it's much easier to find in Québec and then we made the broth. For the broth we mixed together beef bouillon, red wine, apple juice, onion soup mix and chopped onions. Zoya introduced me to that recipe about 10 years ago and i've always done my fondues that way as it's so delicious. And the best part, you can use it afterward to make french onion soup. For the fondue we wrapped mushrooms, raclette cheese and jalapeno havarti in the meat, so awesome having the cheese just oozing out. For dips we had soya sauce and tabasco, bourguignonne and béarnaise. Below are some step by step shots.








And of course, along with the fabulous meal came some outstanding wine. I have a soft spot for chiantis and Zoya introduced me to what is now my favorite one – Pèppoli. Don't ever even try to compare this one to other chiantis, they will never beat it. We also had an amazing Portuguese wine, Duque de Viseu. This one also came with a great price tag for such a good wine – $13.95. The Pèppoli is a bit more at $21.95 but worth every single penny. Both can be found in the vintages at the big LCBO on Rideau.

7 comments:

Eva said...

I am so going to try wrapping cheese with meat! And your broth sounds scrumptious!

Rachelle said...

It is really good! And the cheese just makes it so much yummier!

The Benny's said...

This fondue recipe sounds amazing. Could you provide the mesurementsÉ Also, beef bouillon, do you mean the dry cubes or canned broth?

Rachelle said...

That's a tough one, there are no measurements, we've always just dumped stuff in as we go, but I'll do my best to give you a guide. For the bouillon, use the canned broth, approx. 2 cans, about a cup of wine, a cup of apple juice, one whole large onion cut up in bigger chunks (not finely chopped) and a package of onion soup mix. The more apple juice you add the more tart it is, so it would depend on how much you like that. It is a really great recipe, and so fun!

The Benny's said...

Thank you so much! I will try it this weekend!

The Benny's said...

Made it 2 weekends ago and it was amazing! Thank you for the recipe.

Rachelle said...

So glad you enjoyed it!!