Recipe: French Brie and Bacon Fondue

I am notorious for re-creating recipes at home if I like a dish I find while out.  My number one reason for doing this, I don’t get the opportunity to go out often and I used to practically live in nice restaurants.  I need good food at least once a week or my taste buds might wither and fall off. 

The dish that recently caught my attention was this amazing fondue I had from The Melting Pot over the weekend.  I watched the waitress prepare the fondue and also asked a LOT of questions about each ingredient while she was making it.  I prefer my recipes be inexpensive, quick and fool proof.  The version I created has the basics of the original dish, costs less, has easier to find ingredients and tasted exactly the same.

Ingredients:

8 ounces any beer or white wine

2 tablespoons cornstarch

6 large slices of cooked bacon (approximately 3-4 ounces)

1 large garlic clove

1 large slice of onion (approximately an ounce)

12 ounces shredded Swiss cheese

4 ounces brie with or without the rind

1 tablespoon chopped green onion (optional)

Dash fresh cracked black pepper (optional)

Dippers!  I personally love to use sour green apples, various types of crusty bread, carrots and celery.  Use anything and everything you think you would love to dip: Chips, broccoli, cauliflower, etc…

Directions:

Prep all of your dippers and arrange on a plate for easy grabbing.  In a food processor, make a paste out of the bacon, onion and garlic.  If you have trouble with your food processor mixing, add a splash of beer or wine and keep processing until you form a paste.  Toss all of your cheeses in the cornstarch.  Bring your beer or wine to a gentle simmer on medium low heat.  Add all of your bacon, onion and garlic paste and the small wheel or cut up chunks of brie.  Let it come back to a gentle simmer giving it a tiny stir on occasion.  Add your left over Swiss cheese and cornstarch mixture about 4 ounces at a time and stir well each time you add.  The entire process of mixing and melting your cheese fondue should only take about 10 minutes.  It’s quick and easy.  When your cheese is melted and sticky, remove from the heat. 

Optional: Garnish with a dash of fresh black pepper and chopped green onion.

Serve in the pot with forks or get fancy and use a real fondue set with a burner and fondue forks.  Enjoy!