the melting pot...in the comfort of home

About six months ago, we introduced our kids to the wonders of the Melting Pot.  They were enamored with the cook-your-own experience, marveling at the chocolate fondue and gushing over the melted cheeses that made up the appetizer.  We thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and in our enthusiasm, my husband gushed, "We should try this at home!"

We do, after all, have a fondue pot.  It gathers dust from year to year, coming out only for the occasional Halloween party.  But I did not pay much attention to the plans he made; like many good ideas, I figured it would go quietly away until the next time we found ourselves sharing the fondue pot at our local restaurant.

Wrong.  Yesterday he trotted the idea out to the kids, who were thrilled with the idea.  Dutifully I made my shopping list, figuring full well that this would be a disaster of epic proportions.  Surely there must be a reason for fondue restaurants - it couldn't be easy to pull off at home.

But you know what, I was wrong.  Our fondue experience this evening was fantastic, and I wanted to share it with you.  It was really very easy, and we are all so full now that it is all I can do just to move my fingers on the keyboard.  All you need is a fondue pot, or even a saucepan, a few key ingredients, and a little time to enjoy the meal together.

We started with a cheddar cheese fondue with french bread and apples to dip.

Cheddar Cheese Fondue
4 oz chicken broth (or you can use 4 oz beer)
1 tsp chopped garlic
cheddar cheese (I used a combination of sharp & mild chedder, about 6 oz of each)
pepper
mustard powder (to taste)
Worcestershire sauce

Heat broth and add garlic.  Slowly stir in cheese until melted.  Add pepper, mustard powder and Worcestershire sauce to taste.  Serve with french bread, apple slices, or anything else you like to dip in cheese.

After eating way too much cheese, we switched over to a chicken broth solution for cooking our vegetables and meat.  I'm a huge fan of the mushrooms.  We just used plain chicken broth heated to boiling to cook the meats and veggies, and then dipped them in some of our favorite sauces we already had in the fridge.

Shrimp - 1 1/2 minutes cook time
Beef - 2 minutes cook time
Chicken & veggies - 3 min cook time

At this point, we could hardly move, but we still had the dessert round.  You can't stop before the chocolate!

Chocolate Fondue
12 oz semisweet chocolate chips (or mix of dark & semi sweet chips to make 12 oz)
1 cup light cream
1 tsp vanilla
Heat cream & chocolate chips until melted.  Stir in vanilla.  Serve with strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, mango, graham crackers, cheesecake, chocolate chip cookie dough and any other piece of food in a 30 foot radius that might go with chocolate.  Of course, a smart family would just eat the chocolate round and forget the rest...

Needless to say, it was a good thing that I ran 12.5 miles today.  I probably need to run 12.5 miles tomorrow to burn off the rest of my dinner.  But it was a fantastic way to spend Sunday dinner together, and I recommend you give it a try if cooking in a pot is your thing!