Quick Cheese Fondue

Ah ... cheese fondue. It combines my two favorite things in the world. Cheese ... and a really sharp object (the fondue fork). Ever go to a place like the Melting Pot and wish you could make something similar at home? Hell no ... but here it is anyway. I'm only posting this because it is Valentines Day ... and chicks dig a good fondue and a vacuum cleaner for a valentines gift.

Here is a simple recipe that I thunk up all by myself. Tastes pretty good if I do say so myself. Hopefully you have a fondue pot ... if not, a double boiler will do. And if you don't have that ... then a regular sauce pan is fine. Just don't burn the cheese.

This is what you need for the magic to happen:

16 oz shredded Mild cheddar cheese
1 cup beer
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
pinch of black pepper

Put the fondue pot on the stove and turn it on medium heat. Pour a cup of the beer into your fondue pot and promptly chug the rest of the bottle. No miller lite or other crappy beer like natural light. A nice lager is good. Heat that up until it is nice and hot. Toss in the minced garlic and let that cook for a minute or two. Start adding your cheese while stirring a bit. Once you get all the cheese in and it is melting, add the worcestershire sauce and a little black pepper. Mix it up and make sure the cheese is melted. Take it off the stove and put it over the heat from the fondue pot base (I'm assuming that you have a sterno lit to keep it warm). Make sure you have some good stuff to dip into the cheese. My favorites are pumpernickel bread, granny smith apples, carrots and celery. Feel free to come up with your own stuff to dip.

Too Many Easter Eggs?

I got a little coloring happy this past weekend. So what ... I only made 3 dozen hard boiled eggs. Now I gots to eat all those friggin things! I'm a big fan of a hard boiled egg ... but there is only so many I can eat with some salt slapped on it. The gas alone can kill you! I'm trying to mix it up a bit and make something different than the plain ol' egg. I made some kick ass egg salad today. Kind of strange though because the food coloring stains the egg whites, so I had a "festive" egg salad. Here is a simple recipe that I use.

4 Hard-boiled Eggs, peeled and chopped
¼ cup Light Mayonnaise
1 Celery Stalk (no ends or leaves), finely chopped
2 teaspoons Red or Sweet White Onion, finely chopped
1 ½ teaspoons Lemon Juice (freshly squeezed if possible)
To taste: Salt & Freshly Ground Black Pepper (about 1/8 to 1/4 tsp of each)

Instructions:
Gently toss the eggs and celery together in a medium-size bowl.

In a smaller bowl, combine mayonnaise, lemon juice, onion, salt and pepper. Fold into the eggs and celery. Season to taste with salt & the ground black pepper.

Chill for an hour or so before eating. For each individual serving, spoon 1/2 cup onto a lettuce leaf or spread on bread.

I did modify this a little. I don't particularly care for the lemon juice ... so I bypass that. Also, I hate raw onion, so I swapped that crap out for a little onion powder instead. Anyways, if you need a quick little recipe for egg salad, there ya go.