Saturday was our Fondue Feast. Trina, Gregg, Amber, Raven and I are big fans of fondue. The problem is that, whether you go to The Melting Pot or if you do it yourself, a full 3 course fondue is pricey, labor intensive and requires a lot of planning, so to us its a very rare and special occasion if we are having fondue. We've learned the hard way that doing it for a huge group of strangers sucks all the fun out of it. We decided then that fondue had to be a labor of love (because of the work involved, if you do it for just anyone, you begin to feel like an unappreciated slave) and it is best shared by no more than us and maybe a special guest or two. Back in April, on a day when I was in need of some cheering up, Gregg and Trina surprised me by going out and getting the stuff for Chocolate Fondue and watching funny movies with me, and I felt very special. Every culture and clan has a special way that they express love through food. Fondue is ours.
Tuesday was grocery day (Trina and I spent an hour at Vons buying all that we didn't already have on hand), Thursday was a prep day and then final prep was Saturday morning, after I finished cleaning my house. For Fondue Feast days we do a 3 course fondue: a cheese fondue course, a meat fondue course and a dessert fondue course. We have it down to a science, but it still takes 3 people a few hours each worth of work to get everything for a meal that size ready. Everyone has a job. Trina is Queen of the Cutting Board. She chops, dices, minces, mashes, softens, grates and cubes all the fresh herbs, the veggies, the fruit, the cheeses, the butter and the meats that go into the marinades, sauces and broths. Since this is a lot of work, I help out by cutting up the bread and cake. Gregg is Baron of Broths. He's the guy who handles what's cooking in the pot for each course. He combines, mixes, cooks and (for dessert) lights on fire all that which we dip our goodies in. And then there's me: Mistress of Marinades and Dipping Sauces. I make all of the marinades for the meat and the dipping sauces to accompany them. For this particular feast, we did 4 different marinades (one was a double order, for a total of 5 pounds of meat) and 3 dipping sauces. This may sound easy, but it is not. Some of the marinades are more than just combining the ingredients in a bowl. For example, the Balsamic marinade (which we did a double order of on 2 pounds of Filet Minion) is actually a chilled reduction used as a marinade. In the time it takes just to reduce the vinegar, I can make another marinade. Raven is Helpie Helperton, or the Savory Slave. She runs ingredients back and forth between me (in the kitchen) and Trina (in the living room) and she pulls spices and other ingredients from different locations as well as procuring and labeling containers. Unfortunately, she was in school during Thursday's prep day (when we did the marinades and sauces) so she did not get to help as much as she normally would.
Our first course, the cheese course, had a cheese broth made of Fontina and Provolone Cheeses, Spinach, Shallots, Artichoke Hearts and Vegetable and Chicken Broths (among other things). For dipping, we had French Bread, Baby Carrots, Broccoli (some of it fresh from Trina's garden!) and Apples. Our second course, the meat course, had a Coq a Vin broth made with Burgundy wine, Vegetable Broth and an array of fresh herbs, spices and minced veggies. For dipping, we had 2 pounds of Filet Minon in a Balsamic Marinade, 1 pound of Chicken in a Rosemary Mustard Marinade, 1 pound of Chicken in a Caribbean Jerk Marinade and 1 pound of Shrimp in a Cilantro Lime Marinade. You cook the meat, one or two pieces at a time, for 2 minutes in the Coq a Vin broth, and then you can dip your cooked meat in either the Herb Butter Sauce (which we did cold this time instead of melted and it came out much better), the Island Sauce or the Green Goddess Sauce. We also put cored mushrooms in the Coq a Vin broth to cook and then stuff the cored out centers with Green Goddess or Herb Butter (or both) depending on your taste. We've done other sauces and marinades before, but for todays' feast, since I was hosting, the sauces and marinades we did were my personal favorites that I hand selected to go together. With the Balsamic Filet and the Rosemary Mustard Chicken I like the Green Goddess Sauce, and with the Caribbean Jerk Chicken and the Cilantro Lime Shrimp I like the Island Sauce. The Herb Butter I did because some people don't like the Island Sauce as much on the Shrimp, but this time Trina discovered that the Herb Butter also works well with the mushrooms (not to mention the fact that we both snuck some "to test" with the bread while I was cutting it up on Thursday), so the Herb Butter Sauce has now become a favorite of mine as well. Part of the fun of the meat course is mixing different marinades with different sauces to see what combinations you like best. I was happy that everyone enjoyed the pairings I selected and made for our feast.
For desset, we usually do a Banana's Foster dessert fondue broth, but I thought chocolate would be a nice change of pace, so we did a Flaming Turtle. It is basically chocolate, caramel, heavy cream and rum, lit on fire. The kids love it when Gregg lights the mixture on fire. For dippers we used Strawberries, Bananas, Pound Cake and Strawberry Flavored Marshmellows. Problem is, we were all so stuffed from the first 2 courses (we pushed ourselves to eat a little more than normal) that we barely touched dessert, so we boxed up everything, including the chocolate mixture, to refridgerate for a later date. Dessert is pretty much the only part of fondue you can do that with. For leftovers from the meat course, there is Kabob Night.
Tonight was Kabob night. Kabob night is great too because you really get to enjoy the marinades of the meats. Gregg's Mom invited us over to barbeque steak, so we brought our leftover meat to make kabobs to go with the streaks, since we had so much leftover this time. We brought the Green Goddess Sauce to go with the steaks and the Island Sauce to go with the Cilantro Lime Shrimp and Caribbean Jerk Chicken kabobs. The Balsamic Filet Minion and the Mustand Rosemary Chicken do great on their own as kabobs. Trina also had the great idea of using some of the leftover Coq a Vin broth (which had reduced down quite nicely) to cook some sliced up mushrooms to top the steaks with. She still has some of the reduction left at the house that I want to try either on some pork medallions or some salmon filets. Trina wants to roast a whole chicken with some veggies in it. I can't wait to see how they turn out.
Yesterday was Daniel's birthday. We spent the day at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure (of course) where we FINALLY unlocked the Hidden Monster in the Alien Room on our favorite ride Toy Story Mania. We've now unlocked all the secret points on that ride. Next stop: high score of the month. I also got a chance to show him the Nightmare Before Christmas seasonal revision to Haunted Mansion and all of the new hidden Disney characters on Its A Small World. Lara and Jim joined us for dinner and then we, along with Jim's nieces, enjoyed the rest of the evening taking advantage of shorter lines at DCA before calling it a night after being there a total of 13 hours in 90+ degree humid heat. We both agree yesterday was fun, but we are both feeling it today. But he's 34 (aka old) so he has an excuse. Happy Birthday Daniel!
