Cheese Fondue for Two

When Matt and I got married we asked for, and received, a fondue pot.  I really wanted one, but it's not the most practical gift. I can't say we've used it regularly over the years, but we broke it out for Christmas Eve dinner and had a wonderful cheese fondue. 

Melty, tangy cheese on all manner of fruits, vegetables and bread is about the best meal there is.  We watched Die Hard while enjoying our fondue, and it may just be a new Christmas Eve tradition!

I don't know what Matt enjoyed more, eating the fondue, or arranging the fruit, veggies and bread on the tray.  

Here's the recipe for Fondue for Two.  This is enough for a meal for two hungry people or an appetizer or snack for four.  Double the recipe and add more hearty dippers like salami and pretzels to feed a crowd. 

Ingredients:

1 garlic clove

1 cup dry white wine

250g Emmental cheese, shredded

250g Gruyere cheese, shredded

1 tablespoon cornstarch

juice of half a lemon

black pepper to taste

Things to dip:

• slices of baguette
• pretzels or pretzel bread
• toasted bread cubes
• grapes
• apple slices
• chunks of salami or cooked sausage
• boiled mini potatoes
• blanched vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, etc.

Directions:

Cut the garlic clove in half and rub both halves all over the inside of the fondue pot. 

Add the wine to the fondue pot and heat slowly until hot but not boiling.  

Toss the cheeses with cornstarch. Over low heat, add the cheese slowly to the wine, stirring to melt after each addition. Don't let the mixture come to a boil, just keep it warm and stir until it becomes glossy and starts to thicken. 

Add lemon juice and pepper. 

The cheese may still be thin at this point, but it will thicken up as it sits.  

If you have a proper fondue pot with a heating device, keep the cheese warm over the heat source while you eat, reducing the heat as the level of the cheese goes down as it's eaten.  If you're using a regular pot, you can warm it up on the stove periodically if it gets too cool. 

Use long forks to dip into the cheese.  Be careful!  It's hot!

Enjoy!  

Grilled Prime Rib for Two

It was just the two of us for Easter dinner this year and I found a tiny little prime rib roast at a very good price.  I've tried pan searing and roasting a small prime rib before (one bone, about 1kg or 2lbs), but this time we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and try it on the grill.

We seasoned the beef with kosher salt, cracked pepper.

And placed it on the hot grill to sear for about 4 minutes per side.

Because of all the fat there were some flare ups and char.  We then turned down the heat and let it cook on low for about 12 more minutes until the meat thermometer said 140 degrees.

We let it rest for about 10 minutes, cut out the bone then sliced the meat in half to find it perfectly done!

We served it with cheesy horseradish mashed potatoes (recipe coming soon) and roasted Brussels sprouts for a huge, delicious special dinner with plenty of leftovers for lunch the next day.

Easy & Fancy Rack of Lamb for Two

On Sundays, especially in the winter, I like to put a little extra effort into dinner.  This often means I'll roast a chicken or some beef, or occasionally make a stew.  I've been wanting to make lamb for a while but it is generally so large and expensive when I see it in stores.  Finally I found a nice little rack of lamb for about seventeen dollars.  It was frozen, but only weighed 500g so it took no time at all to thaw.

I found this recipe on the awesome Epicurious for rack of lamb for two. I love it when the portion size is just what I need - no math!

I sliced up the potatoes:

... and shallots:

... and made a paste of garlic, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper:

(I miraculously still have rosemary and thyme growing/living in my garden. I'm wondering how much longer it will last.)

I heated some oil in my cast iron pan.

Then browned the lamb for a few minutes.

Once it was nice and brown I removed it from the pan, drained the oil and browned the potatoes and shallots for a few minutes.  I had too many potatoes, so they didn't brown as much as I would have liked.  The shallots, however, browned more than enough.

Once this was done, I added some herb mixture and water to the potatoes and then topped them with the lamb.  Then I spread the remaining herb mixture over the lamb...

... and popped the whole thing in the oven.

The recipe called for roasted tomatoes as well, but we are not fans of that nonsense.  I roasted the lamb and potatoes for 20 minutes and then pulled out the lamb for testing.  The thermometer said 140 exactly so I let it rest and tossed the potatoes back in to try to get them more browned. 

I steamed some yellow beans while the lamb rested. 

I wasn't totally sure what to expect, but when I sliced the lamb, I was over the moon!

Absolutely perfectly cooked!  

Beautiful!

I served it up with yellow beans and lots of potatoes.

Cooking the lamb on top of the potatoes gave them such incredible flavour. They may be the best potatoes I've ever had. I barely missed the crispy exterior.  

This dinner was amazing. Especially considering the amount of effort it took. It is perfect for a Sunday dinner or special occasion, but easy and quick enough for a weeknight. If only lamb was on sale all the time!

Enjoy!

*Pictures updated in 2016

Simple Seafood Pasta for New Years

My husband's birthday is on December 30th, so to make up for decades of conflation with Christmas and New Years, we always celebrate on the 30th and have a quiet night in on the 31st. Often we are suffering from too much cheer the night before, but this year we had a little pep left in us, so I planned a simple seafood pasta dinner.  (I say I planned because due to a late lunch I didn't end up executing it until dinner the next day.)  It is a very, very easy recipe, based on this one from Epicurious, but the seafood makes it a little fancy and you can use just about any seafood you like.  

Aside from the seafood, you need olive oil, garlic, chili flakes, white wine, tomato sauce, parsley and linguine.  

I used bay scallops, large raw shrimp (not jumbo) and a couple of small lobster tails this time.  I've made it with just shrimp and scallops; calamari, shrimp and scallops; even mussels or clams with the shrimp and scallops.  

Boil your water and add your linguine to the pot. I add lots and lots of salt.  Like 2 tablespoons.

If you chop the garlic and shell the seafood before you put the pasta in the water, the sauce and seafood will be done by the time the pasta is cooked.  

Saute the garlic in the olive oil with the chili flakes.  

After a minute or two, add the wine.  If you're using clams or mussels, add them now.  Otherwise let the wine cook for a minute or two and add the tomato sauce.  

Simmer for another minute or two and add the seafood about 4 minutes before the pasta is done.  Let it simmer lightly until the shrimp is pink and the scallops are opaque.  

Once the linguine is done, drain it and add it to the large pan with the seafood and sauce.  Toss with the parsley and serve it up!

This recipe is so quick and easy it surprises me every time.  It is delicious and a little fancy too.  So you can have it on a special occasion like New Years Eve, or get tipsy and snacky and forget about it until New Years Day, or just have it on some random Tuesday night.  

Food Lessons Learned:

• Not much this time since this is a tried and true recipe, but I guess don't plan a semi-fancy dinner then have a huge lunch at 4pm, then start drinking. Because the chances of making even a simple recipe get pretty slim by that point

Photography Lessons Learned:

• First, don't balance your box of linguine against your glass of wine for the cast photo. That's just asking for trouble
• Also, it isn't so easy to take pictures of all the steps, especially with a quickie recipe like this
• Finally, I figured out how to re-size the photos so hopefully that'll save some time.