Rather fond of fondue!

Okay, our kitchen isn't as cramped as it used to be but I still look for easy ways to entertain without taking too much time or space. For the Autumnal Equinox we celebrated by having ten people over for fondue! The beauty of fondue is all of the side items can be prepped ahead of time and it really is conducive to mingling groups of friends.

Here's the menu:

Traditional Swiss Cheese and White Wine Fondue with French bread, onion bagels, grapes and Granny Smith apples
Beer Fondue with Swiss & Sharp Cheddar with with French bread, onion bagels, and kielbasa. Caesar salad
Pinot Grigio Sparkling cider
Dessert: Sorbet and wafer cookies

Ahead of time: Cube the French bread, cut the bagels into 1/2" thick rounds. Rinse the grapes, stick them back in the fridge in a colander with paper towels underneath. Cube the kielbasa. Shred the cheeses. Chill the wine. Make sure you have the sterno or candles needed to keep the fondue pot on the table properly heated.

Gadget tip: A large lazy susan will make it easier to serve all the components of the fondue. The lazy susan can be turned while people are dipping their goodies in the cheese.

Etiquette tip: Some people haven't fondued (surely a verb even if spell check thinks not) before so its nice to give a few pointers on the methods of dipping and twirling and also, the golden rule of fondue...if you drop your bread in the cheese, you must kiss the person sitting next to you.

Recipes

TRADITIONAL SWISS CHEESE FONDUE
1 split clove of garlic
1 c. dry white wine
1 lb. Swiss cheese, grated
2 tsp. cornstarch
3 Tbsp. vermouth
Dash nutmeg

Rub pot with garlic, add wine and vermouth and heat on stove until bubbles begin to rise. Do not boil. Toss cheese with cornstarch and add to hot wine, a handful at a time, cooking over low heat until cheese is melted and smooth, stirring constantly with wooden spoon. Add nutmeg. Light burner, set pot on unit, spear bread with fondue fork and dip away.

BEER CHEESE FONDUE

1 sm. clove garlic, halved
3/4 c. beer (Sam Adam's Octoberfest)
8 oz. Swiss cheese, grated
8 oz. grated Sharp Cheddar cheese
1 tbsp. flour

Rub inside of saucepan with garlic. Discard garlic. Add beer, heat slowly. Coat cheese with flour. Adding slowly to beer. Stir constantly until bubbly. Transfer to fondue pot. If too thick add warm beer.

Test Kitchen Approved Shortcuts

As the mother of an eleven-month old, I have learned to compromise and that shortcuts are the only way dinner will get on the table...sometimes.

So here is my short list of short cuts:

Trader Joe's pizza dough from the fridge section (you let it rise, you roll it out, it looks homemade)
Stuffed Pork Chops from the butcher
Trader Joe's Pre-cooked Brown Rice from the freezer section, three packets to a box (nuke it in three minutes and viola)
Angel Food cake from the deli + frozen berries (thawed) + Vanilla Cool Whip (cut cake in half - diagonally, scoop out a trough around the bottom with a soup spoon, place berries in the track, replace top of cake, "frost" with Cool Whip stick in the fridge...

Know when to cheat

OK, so I don't think this really counts as cheating, but I like to make everything from scratch, so it feels that way, at least a little bit: I bought the ready-to-bake brownies, the kind that come in their own pan. They're really quite good.

I think the bottom line is this: Sometimes, in any kitchen, a shortcut is OK. This is especially true on occasions when you have far too much to do, or need two ovens, or just wish you could watch a movie instead of baking.

Compromise

I like crepes. Who doesn't, really?

I also like cornbread, scrambled eggs, sausages... all of which could conceivably have their own pot, pan or double-boiler.

What I have instead is one well-seasoned, 10-inch cast-iron frying pan. Is it the best tool for any given job? Maybe not. But it is the Swiss Army knife of pans: pretty darn good for just about anything.

Also, it cost less than $10, new (I think it was part of a three-piece, $15 set).

Go fish

I love fish and chips, but I am not a big fan of deep fat frying, at least not when it is me doing the frying. I usually cook for two, so a big vat of oil just doesn't make sense, and reusing french fry oil is a pretty poor idea, health- and taste-wise.

So I've been opting for hashbrowns and oven-fried fish:

Oven-fried fish for two
8-12 ounces true cod, cut into pieces of your choosing (i.e. the size you like your fried fish pieces, skipper)
Three slices of bread (I am talking about bread about the size of Wonder bread)
About 1/4 cup cream
Butter (I use about 1/4 of a pat per piece of fish during cooking)

Break the bread into small crumbs and heat on a cookie sheet in a 200-degree oven until dry and crispy.
Dip the fish pieces in cream, then dredge in the crumbs. In principle, you're supposed to somehow place the dredged fish pieces on a rack until "dry" but I didn't have a lot of luck with that.
Place the fish pieces in a casserole, top with a little bit of butter and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.
As I hinted a moment ago, this dredge-in-crumbs bit is a little sketchy, so you could also lay down a layer of crumbs in the casserole, lay the cream-dipped fish in on top and top the fish pieces with crumbs, then butter, then bake. The result is just as tasty.

Hashbrowns
Three medium Yukon gold potatoes, diced
One *small* yellow onion, finely chopped
Worcestershire sauce or other seasonings, to taste
Two to three tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup cream

Heat the oil over medium heat until hot, then dump in the onions and potatoes. Season with your favorites (I like W-sauce, but they're good with pepper, salt and paprika, too)
Um, cook the hash until brown, flipping at least once (to prevent burning, if nothing else). When they're done, drizzle the cream over the top and cook for a couple minutes more, then serve.
These can also be amended with some cottage cheese...