Kelly Coop

Fondue is one of my favourite things in the whole world – cheese fondue, fondue bourguignon, chocolate fondue – you name it I love it! So much so I actually did a fondue night in the tropics of St Barths last New Years Eve – the owner nearly had a heart attack when I set fire to boiling hot oil on his precious boat amid fears that it would be the biggest firework of the night! Thankfully, it wasn’t and he loved it – who wouldn’t – beef fillet cooked to your liking, hot melted swiss cheese, and fresh crunchy baguettes from the local bakery mmmmmmm.  Needless to say it has made me extremely happy to spend some time in the Ski resorts this winter and be able to cook fondue for our guests on a regular occasion.

So I thought I would share my love for fondue on here and put up my recipe for Swiss Cheese Fondue. Most recipes are very similar but these quantities work for me. This Serves 6-8 people.

• Cut a Garlic Bulb in half and rub all over the inside of your fondue pot (i use cast iron)
• Put your cheese in the fondue pot, on the stove, on a low heat. I use a mixture of good quality Emmental and Gruyere.  About 4oog grated Emmental and 400g Grated Gruyere.
• To This add 400ml Dry White Wine and the Juice of a Lemon.
• In a small bowl mix 2 Tsp Cornflour and 2 TBSP Kirsch.
• Once the cheese has melted (you can turn the heat up a little if it is taking a while) add the Kirsch/Cornflour mixture and continue to cook on low for another 5 minutes until the cheese mixture is smooth. Finish by flavouring with some freshly grated nutmeg.
• When ready transfer he fondue pot to the table over the heat. Be careful not to let the cheese bubble or it will burn on the bottom.

Serve with Chunks of Sliced baguette, your choice of chopped veg (i like to dip in carrots) and salad. Its quite nice served with a Mache Salad with Cured meats and New potatoes.

On the other hand if you have the equipment and want to go the whole hog you could also serve a fondue bourguignon with hot oil and raw beef fillet that the guests can cook to their liking and then enjoy with the cheese. Apparently its not the done thing to dip your meet in the cheese but I say if there are no veggies at the table – go for it!

Vegetarian

• Rosemary Biscuits with Honey Roasted Tomatoes, Feta & Olives
• Walnut Shortbread topped with Roasted Pumpkin and Ricotta Cheese
• Crisp Olive and Basil Polenta Cake with Sun Dried Tomato Tapenade and Chive Crème Fraiche
• Tomato Tarte Tatins w/ Red Onion Relish, Parmesan & Basil
• Crostini (Your Choice of: Classic Tomato & Basil, Truffled Parsnip & Parmesan, Anchovies, Roasted Veg & Mozzarella, Squashed Cannellini Beans with Garlic, or Olive Tapenade & Goats Cheese)
• Olive & Parmesan Twists w/ Lemon & Coriander Hummus
• Baked Camembert w/ Focaccia Croutons

Meat

• Carpaccio of Beef on Crostini with Rocket, Shaved Parmesan, Drizzled with Truffle Oil
• Mini Eggs Benedict: A small English muffin w/ poached quails egg, crispy bacon and hollandaise, topped with fresh chives.
• Mini Yorkshire Puddings w/ Rare Beef and Horseradish Emulsion
• Poached Chicken in Phyllo Cups w/ Walnut Pesto
• Marinated Chicken Skewers with a Satay Dipping Sauce
• Lemongrass Chicken Skewers

Fish

• Coconut Crusted Shrimp w/ Mango Mint Dipping Sauce
• Asian Pancakes (Sesame, Spring Onion & Ginger) with Seared Ahi Tuna, Wasabi Cream and Soy Glaze
• Pesto Blinis or Parmesan Tartlets w/ Smoked Salmon, Crème Fraiche & Dill
• Mini Thai Crab Cakes w/ Sticky Cucumber & Chilli Dipping Sauce

Something Sweeter

• Mini Chocolate Cups w/ Dark Chocolate & Orange or White Chocolate & Lime or Raspberry & Mint Mousse
• Meringue Kisses (Cranberries & Orange, Pistachio & Raspberry): Individual Mini Meringues ‘kissing’ together with your choice of flavored cream.
• Mini Lemon, Mascarpone Tartlets

I marinated Chicken overnight in a mix of soy sauce, lemon, garlic, honey, ground cumin, ginger and coriander.

To make the satay sauce i grated fresh ginger and mixed in sugar and peanut butter. I then added coconut milk a TSP at a time until the right consistency was achieved. Finally I mixed in a dash of Sesame oil and Soy Sauce and a couple of TBSP of Chopped Fresh Coriander.

I baked the chicken in the oven (pre heated to about 180deg) for about 15 mins and served with the satay sauce and sprinkled with fresh coriander and spring onions.

This is one of my favourites, always a hit, a few different things to make but everything can be made ahead so a bit of organisation and its easy.

Wasabi Mayonaise: Mix 2 TSP Wasabi Powder w/ 2 TSP Water and let sit for 5 mins. Mix in 1/3 Cup Mayonnaise and 1/4 TSP Sugar.  Put into a plastic squeeze bottle and refrigerate until needed.

Soy Glaze: Whisk 1 cup soy sauce, 4 TBSP Sugar &  3TSP Cornflour in a saucepan and bring to a boil over a medium heat. As the sauce warms up it will thicken, once it turns take it off the heat and let cool. Pour into a plastic squeeze bottle and refrigerate until needed.

Seared Tuna: Run a 10ounce Tuna Loin with vegetable oil and sprinkle with a mixture of black and white sesame seeds. Head a heavy based pan until smoking and then sear the tuna on all sides (about 45 secs per side) then set aside on a plate to cool. Once cool, wrap tightly in cling film and refrigerate until needed.

Asian Pancakes: Don’t make these until the day of serving. Mix together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. (2/3 cup flour, 1 TSP baking powder, 1/2 TSP salt, 1 TSP sugar) In a separate bowl whisk egg, milk and soda water (1 egg, 1/3 cup whole milk, 3 TBSP chilled soda water) Mix the flour mixture into the egg mixture and then mix in 1 TBSP minced sweet pickled ginger, 2/3 cup sliced spring onions and 1 1/2 TBSP Black Sesame Seeds.  Heat a non stick pan, drop 1 TBSP portions of the batter into the pan and turn when they are slightly set/slightly puffy and there are bubbles.  Cook until just browned on the second side and then transfer to a late lined with paper towel – they can be stored in an airtight container layering with paper towel.

To plate up cut the tuna into 1/4 inch thick slices and lay a slice on each pancake, add a blob of wasabi mayonnaise on each one. sprinkled the plate with some black sesame seeds and decorate with spring onions cut on a bias. Finally squeeze diagonal stripes of the soy glaze from left to right across the plate.

Again no pictures but a pretty one on the plate as the colours are quite nice. Delia came to the rescue again with her yorkshire pudding recipe … i just made mini versions. Again, making them ahead and storing them in an airtight container before reheating them on that day prior to adding the toppings.  Recipe Here – Yorkshire Puddings.

I made a horseradish cream by simply folding horseradish sauce with creme fraiche, mixed ahead and stored in the fridge.

I roasted a small piece of beef, season and cooked in a preheated oven (220deg) for about 15-20 mins, taken out and left to rest, when cooled wrapped tightly in cling film and refrigerated overnight. I sliced this on the night (medium rare), popped on top of the warmed yorkshires with a pea sized amount of horseradish cream and a piece of watercress.

I wanted to do something with quails eggs for a Cocktail Party I did last week and with Eggs benedict being one of my favourites i thought it would be nice to try and do a mini version. Unfortunatly in the midst of poaching a gazillion quails eggs and serving them I did not get any pictures but they were a massive hit … and Delia was a big contributor to pulling this together! I used her english Muffin recipe to make the mini muffins and I also used her Foaming Hollandaise Sauce Recipe – this meant that I could then make the Sauce ahead of time … the more I made ahead, the less room for error on the night!

Mini Eggs Benedict - Mini English Muffin w/ Poached Quails Egg, Crispy Bacon, Foaming Hollandaise and a Snip of Chives

I made the Muffins ahead using this recipe, storing them in an airtight container overnight … English Muffins

I made the foaming hollandaise ahead using this recipe, again storing in an airtight container overnight … Foaming Hollandaise

On the morning of the event I cooked the bacon and stored in a ziplock bag.

I poached the quails eggs just before serving in almost simmering water with a dash of white wine vinegar for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. I had a bowl of iced water at the side and put the cooked quails eggs in there until ready to plate up. Before adding the bacon, chives and hollandaise i put the muffins with the quails eggs in the oven for a minute or too just to re heat a little. Previous to putting on the quails eggs I sliced the tops off the muffins and popped on a tray in the oven to warm.

The final result was eggs not too runny and not too hard – just a little soft … perfect