One of my favorite things to do in preparation for christmas is to spend time wraping gifts with my mom. She loves wrapping and always has the best papers to choose from, so usually when I get home (I have shipped all my gifts straight to their house) I need to wrap all of them. We put on a holiday movie and set up a table and wrap for hours. So the only thing I can think to make it better is to add something to snack on. Fondue is the perfect dish for this because it will stay warm and you can alternate between wrapping and eating.
I also think this could be a great thing to serve on Christmas Eve. My family celebrates on Christmas day and traditionally I spend Christmas Eve preparing the food for the next day. Which also means I tend to forget to eat, I just sample the food throughout the day. And the rest of my family spends it finishing up any last minute things. So for us, it is not a formal meal kind of a day, which is why this cheddar and beer fondue would make the day feel like a special occasion even if you don’t do anything big.
And what could be more festive than red and green dippers?! I love serving vegetables with fondue rather than just bread because it makes you feel slightly better about consuming so much cheese. And these are so colorful and festive feeling! Feel free to change up anything here or include bread, these are just my suggestions of christmas dippers.
So this week I am not only sharing this wonderful recipe with you but also a suggestion on how to create a new tradition in your family. I hope you enjoy it and this is definitely what Johnny and I are going to be doing tonight, wrapping and eating fondue!
- 4 red potatoes, chopped and boiled
- 1 red pepper, chopped in large pieces
- 1 salami, sliced and then halved
- 1 bunch of asparagus
- 2 handfuls of brussels sprouts
- 1 head of broccoli, cut into florets
- 1 clove of garlic, halved
- 1 cup of beer*
- 8 oz of Cheddar, shredded
- 8 oz of Swiss, shredded
- 1 tablespoon of cornstarch
- pinch of white pepper**
- dash of hot sauce
- dash of ground mustard
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spread the asparagus, brussels sprouts, broccoli, and red pepper onto a sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil. Roast in the oven for 15 mins just to partially cook the veggies. Set aside with the potatoes until ready to serve.
- Rub the inside of the fondue pot or small sauce pot with the halves of garlic and heat over medium-low heat and pour in the beer. Bring beer to a slow simmer
- Mix the cornstarch with the shredded cheese, this helps the cheese melt smoothly, add a handful of the cheese to the simmering beer. Once the handful melts completely add another handful, continuing until all the cheese has been added.
- Then add the pepper, hot sauce, and ground mustard and stir
- Serve immediately with the dippers
**black pepper works just fine but the white pepper doesn't show up as dark flecks
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