Sasha's Kitchen: Food & Wine Pairing of Cheese Fondue With Heron Hill Riesling

For last night's meal, my husband and I paired a wine that we had received from Heron Hill Winery to review with one of our favorite dishes, homemade cheese fondue.  This meal featured a wine & cheese fondue, various fruits, vegetables and bread for dipping, as well as the New Release of the 2007 Ingle Vineyard Riesling from Heron Hill Winery in the Finger Lakes Wine Region of New York State.  The combination was perfect, with the light fruit and citrus fragrance of the wine with is strong hints of lemon and melon character, alongside the gruyere and emmental hard swiss and/or french cheeses, as well as the accompanying fruits and vegetables, particularly the apples.

The flavors of the Riesling were pleasant and fruity, but also crisp with a taste of acidity and a mineral balance.  It was quite pleasing to the palette with the melted cheeses.   New York's Finger Lakes Region has become famous for its Rieslings, and this wine was a great example.  Heron Hill's Riesling was perfect with the balance of acidity and mineral characteristics.  I thought it combined nicely with the melted cheeses and vegetables.  I also loved how its citrus and melon undertones complemented the tartness of the green apple that we used for dipping in the fondue.

To prepare the accompanying fondue, here's what you will need:

Sasha's Cheese Fondue

8 oz gruyere cheese (grated)
8 oz emmental cheese (grated)
2 T cornstarch
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 1/2 cup dry white cooking wine
1 T lemon juice
1 T brandy
pinch of nutmeg
1/2 tsp dry mustard powder
1/2 tsp ancho chile powder
pinch of pepper

For Dipping:
Broccoli
Strawberries
Green Apple
Carrots
French Bread

Follow the instructions for your electric fondue pot, which generally involves bringing all of the ingredients besides the cheese to a boil.  Boil for a minute, then reduce to a simmer and slowly add the grated cheese mixture.  The cheese in the fondue should never boil, so don't turn the electric pot temperature up too high.  Add the cheese until the fondue reaches the desired consistency.  For me, this required most of the cheese, with a little bit leftover.  Then, enjoy by dipping your favorite fruits, vegetable and breads into the fondue, along with a glass of wine.   We used strawberries, green apples, broccoli, french bread and carrots for dipping but you can substitute other fruits or vegetables.  My husband's favorite was the broccoli, while I really liked the combination of the strawberries and applies with both the fondue and the wine.

You should be sure to use Gruyere and Emmental cheeses for your fondue and not substitute.  I selected these cheeses because they are the traditional cheeses used in  Switzerland for making fondue.  Emmental is similar to swiss cheese, while Gruyere is hard yellow cheese made from cow's milk with a creamy and nutty flavor.  The fondue recipe worked very nicely, with flavors of wine, mustard and ancho chile to complement the traditional cheeses.  It pairs nicely with Heron Hill's new Riesling, and was quite an enjoyable and easy weekday meal.

Sasha's Kitchen: Food & Wine Pairing of Cheese Fondue With Heron Hill Riesling

Sasha's Kitchen: French Onion Soup

Last night's snowy day dinner consisted of French Onion Soup, made the traditional French way.  Yes, Julia Child would be happy to know that I prepared the onions in plenty of butter, and was rewarded accordingly with the perfect French Onion Soup.  If you are interested in French Cooking, making a good French Onion Soup, or a perfect Julia Child Omelet is a much better place to start than testing out your luck on Boeuf Bourguignon.  This recipe make the perfect French Onion Soup for two and is a great beginner recipe as you begin to delve into French cooking.

French Onion Soup (Serves 2 to 3)
5 T butter
1 T flour
4 medium onions, diced
1 quart of organic beef broth
10-12 slices of French Bread, each topped with 1T of grated Gruyere cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the onions in a dutch oven over medium heat in the butter, for about 30 minutes, until the onions are soft and lightly browned.  Don't cut this process short, as it is essential to allow the onions to brown naturally using the buttery goodness.  Don't use Canola Oil (or, margarine) as a substitute - this is a recipe where the taste of the butter is really essential.

Next, add a tablespoon of flour and mix into the onions.  Add the beef broth and bring to a boil.  Then reduce the heat to simmer, and simmer for about 20 minutes, with the lid of the dutch oven covering the soup, season with salt and pepper to taste.

Next, put in a small Le Creuset Dutch Oven, or better yet, broiler proof soup bowls.  Fill with the soup and top with the French Bread with the grated Gruyere Cheese pressed into the bread (so it doesn't fall off at this point).  Gruyere is the cheese that the French traditionally use to make their French Onion soup, and also their fondue (along with Emmental, according to my 9th grade French teacher who made us memorize all the traditional French/Swiss Cheeses).  Actually, according to the Wikipedia entry linked to above, there is some controversy over whether Gruyere is actually of either French or Swiss origin.  Regardless,  this is the cheese that is required to make a traditional French Onion soup, not your run of the mill deli Swiss.

Heat your broiler to 400 F and put the broiler proof soup bowls or mini Dutch Oven in to allow the cheese topped bread rounds to broil, covering the soup.  Don't remove until the cheese is lightly browned to your liking.  Enjoy!

Sasha's Kitchen: French Onion Soup

Sasha's Kitchen: Simple (And Easy) Fall And Winter Dinner Souffles

Souffles are often confused as simply being for dessert, such as the standard chocolate souffle. However, souffles make great non-sweet dinners that are surprisingly easy to make. They are particularly well-suited to fall and winter vegetables and fruits, such as parsnip, potato, squash, apple, pumpkin and spinach. As crazy as it may sound, this is a good recipe to make during the busy work week, as neither really takes that long.

I have recently made two dinner souffles, both with good results. The first is a Martha Stewart recipe for a spinach-Gruyere souffle, which got me started on the souffle kick. The second used my own recipe - for a sweet potato, parsnip, apple souffle. While easy to make, souffles are also reasonably healthy, in that they do not contain a lot of sugar (for a vegetable souffle) and only use the whites of eggs. They key to getting the souffle to rise properly is beating the egg whites to the right consistency so that they form stiff peaks, before folding into and baking the souffle.

Sasha's Sweet Potato, Parsnip and Apple Souffle
2 medium sweet potatoes
2 medium parsnips
1 large apple
1/8 tsp salt
3 T sugar
1/2 tsp allspice
1 egg yolk plus 5 egg whites
2 T flour

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Peel potatoes and parsnips and place in the oven for 20 minutes. Peel the apple and cut into pieces and add apple. Wait another 20 minutes before removing vegetables and allow to cool for 15 minutes. Keep the oven on at 400 as having the right temperature at the right time is key with this recipe. Puree all vegetables in a food processor or blender. Add a small amount of water if needed. Mix in allspice, salt and 1 T of the sugar. Mix in the egg yolk and the flour. Set aside in a bowl.

Next put the egg whites in the bowl of a food processor (I used my artisan mixer) and beat at a very high speed until the egg whites form stiff peaks. As you beat, gradually add the remaining 2 T of sugar. Don't overbeat but you will have stiff peaks when the egg whites are fluffy and kind of foamy and form a peak when you test with a fork. Then gently fold the egg whites (Gently! don't beat) until mixed in. Then add to a souffle dish (spray with Pam first) and bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Spinach Gruyere Souffle - from the December 2009 Issue of Everyday Food

2 T butter
1/3 cup plain breadcrumbs
1 bag of fresh spinach
2 T flour
3/4 cup plus 2 T whole milk
1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese (I am sure this would also taste great with cheddar)
2 large eggs, separated plus 2 large egg whites

Preheat oven to 275 F. Melt butter in a pan on medium heat and add flour to form a paste and cook for a few minutes. Add milk and cook 3-5 minutes. Take off heat and mix in the shredded cheese of your choice. Transfer to a bowl. Cook spinach in a few T of water until wilted on med-high for about 5 minutes. Blend in a food processor with the egg yolks. Add the cheese-flour mixture. Then beat the 4 egg whites as above (to make stiff peaks) and fold into the souffle. Bake at 375 for about 35 minutes.

Serve the souffles right away, so they will not fall. Also, it is important not to open the oven during the cooking process if you want them to rise properly. If you get too curious, like me, then you can turn on your oven light while the souffle cooks.

Sasha's Kitchen: Simple (And Easy) Fall And Winter Dinner Souffles