Fiesta Cheese Fondue

The Melting Pot is one of my favorite restaurants.  Making their fondues at home is actually way easier than it looks.  For Halloween I decided to make their fiesta cheese fondue, serve it in a roasted pumpkin, and make homemade tortilla chips.  Boy was it good!

Ingredients:
Fondue:
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups colby jack cheese
1/4 cup salsa
2 tablespoons corn starch

Chips:
8 corn tortillas
vegetable oil

Directions:
For the roasted pumpkin, you want a medium sized pumpkin.  Cut about an 8 inch circle in diameter off the top of the pumpkin.  Use a sharp knife to cut down at an angle.  Once you do this, you can pull the top off.  Clean out the inside with a metal spoon and get rid of the pumpkin seeds.  Roast them if you'd like.  Clean out as much of the flesh as possible to make a smooth inside.  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Roast the pumpkin for a half hour or until it turns golden.  Set aside for later.

Heat the oil in a small sauce pan about 2 inches up the side.  Cut each corn tortilla into 8 triangles.  I use one to test the oil.  Once it floats to the top it is finished.  Toss in about 8 at a time and stir around with a slotted spoon.  Cook until they turn lightly golden.  It should only take about a minute or two.  Drain on paper towels and LIGHTLY season with salt.

Get a fondue pot of a small sauce pan and begin heating the vegetable broth with the salsa.  Grate your cheese by hand.  Do not buy pre-shredded cheese as this makes the fondue clump.  I learned that the hard way.  Once all of your cheese is shredded, mix with the corn starch.  This will also prevent clumping.

One the broth is hot, stir in your cheese one small handful at a time and slowly whisk in.  Allow all of the cheese to melt before adding more cheese.  Once all of the cheese has melted, pour into the pumpkin.  Serve hot with the chips!

Enjoy!

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Chicken Tortilla Soup

Okay so this might actually be the best recipe I have ever created! It has a lot of ingredients, but is super easy and one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted! It makes a pretty big batch, so you will have plenty of leftovers to enjoy!!!

Ingredients:
4 large tomatoes
2 poblano chilis (optional, 1 for less spicy)
1 1/2 onions
5 garlic cloves
4 corn tortillas
2 32oz containers chicken broth
2 chicken breasts
1 taco seasoning packet
2 cups frozen corn
1 cup monterey jack cheese
1 6 oz can tomato paste

Toppings:
Cheese
Avocado
Crushed Tortilla chips or homemade tortilla strips
Lime

Directions:
In a large skillet, char the tomatoes, onions with the skin, poblano peppers, and garlic with the skin for about 5 minutes on each side or until brown.  Don't worry if it gets very dark.  This is flavor!

Remove all of the vegetables and remove the skin of the onion and garlic.  Cut the vegetables up into smaller pieces.  A few cuts should do the trick.  No need to finely dice!  Put these in a large pot with 2 32 oz containers of chicken broth, half of the taco seasoning packet, and the tomato paste.  Stir and allow to cook on medium high heat for 45-50 minutes or until vegetables become very soft.  After about 30 minutes, chop up the 4 corn tortillas and put them into the soup! I know this sounds weird, but you are thickening the soup this way!

In another pot, put the chicken breasts and fill with water so that the chicken is just covered.  Stir in the second half of the taco seasoning packet.  Cook on medium heat for about 30 minutes, or until chicken becomes tender.  After 30 minutes, shred the chicken and put it back in the pot of seasoned water on medium low heated until needed.

In the same large skillet you charred the vegetables before, char the corn now.  Cook for about 5-7 minutes or until corn begins to turn brown.  Set aside.

After about 50 minutes of the vegetables cooking in the chicken broth stir to check for tenderness.  If they are tender, in small batches, blend them in the blender.  Once everything is blended, but it back in the pot and allow it to cook for another 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, not you can add your corn, shredded chicken, and one cup of monterey jack cheese.  Allow this to cook for another 20-25 minutes.

While the soup is cooking you can get your toppings ready.  Cheese is always great on the top.  I also like avocado! Don't forget to squeeze some lime on the avocado so it does not turn brown.

You can also crush up tortilla chips, but I made my own tortilla strips.  Slice a couple of corn tortillas into strips while a pot of hot oil is coming up to temperature.  About 375 degrees is a good temperature to fry at. Toss in the corn tortillas and cook for about 2-3 minutes or until golden.  Drain on a paper towel and season with salt as soon as they come out of the fryer.

Once the soup is ready, pour a big ladle full into a bowl and top with cheese, avocado, and those delicious tortilla strips! Enjoy!

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Potatoes Au Gratin

My recipe for potatoes au gratin is very similar to my macaroni and cheese recipe except for a few extra additions here and there.  It is very simple and a delicious side dish with any meal.  Hope you enjoy!!

Ingredients:
4 slices of bacon
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons oil or butter
2 tablespoons of flour
2 cups of milk
2 cups of sharp Cheddar cheese
5 russet potatoes
1 tsp dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

Heat oil in a medisum saucepan on medium heat.  Slice bacon into strips and put into hot pan.  Slice onion into thin slices and chop the garlic.  Add both of these to the oil with the bacon.  Once the bacon has become brown and the onions are translucent (about 5-10 minutes) add the flour and stir.  A paste should form.  Continue to cook this for 1 to 2 minutes to cook the raw flour taste out.  Lower the heat to low and slowly add in the 2 cups of milk while whisking.  Once all has been added continue to whisk until the paste and the milk have become one.  At this point you can turn the heat up to medium high and allow the sauce to thicken for about 10 minutes.  Stir often so that no lumps form.

While sauce is thickening prep the potatoes.  Peel each potatoe and slice very thin, like 1/8 -1/4 of an inch thick.  You can use a mandoline but I find a knife works just as well. 

Once sauce has thickened add the cheese and stir.  Once cheese has melted add the parsley, salt and pepper. 

Cover the bottom of a 13 x 9 greased baking dish with a few tablespoons of sauce.  Then layer the thinly sliced potatoes in one single layer, slightly overlapping.  After each layer of potatoes add enough sauce to cover the potatoes and continue to work up until all of the potatoes and sauce have been used.  Add extra cheese on top.

Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes.  Enjoy!

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Famous Macaroni and Cheese

One of my favorite dishes to eat and cook is macaroni and cheese.  Anytime I go to a restaurant, if it's on the menu I am definitely ordering it.  What most people don't know is that delicious mac and cheese is very easy to make at home, without any powdered cheese packets.  This is my recipe for mac and cheese and I hope you enjoy it!

Classic Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients:
4 slices of bacon
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons butter or vegetable oil
2 tablespoons of flour
1 lb any short cut pasta (I use shells or rigatoni usually, but elbows are classically used)
2 cups of milk (usually recipes recommend to use whole milk, but I use skim and it works out perfectly too)
1 cup sharp yellow cheddar
1/2 cup colby jack
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
4 tablespoons breadcrumbs (optional)
2 tsp paprika
1 tbsp parsley
2 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

At this point, I usually put a pot of water on the stove to boil while I am making the cheese sauce. 

In a small sauce pan heat 2 tablespoons of oil or butter on medium.  Slice the bacon into strips (lardons in French) and add to the oil.  Then chop the 2 cloves of garlic very small and add to the pan with the bacon.  Let bacon and garlic saute together until bacon begins to turn brown.  Then add 2 tablespoons of flour and begin to whisk.  A paste will begin to form, this is called a roux and is the beginning of most creamy sauces as a source of thickening.  Allow the roux to cook for 1-2 minutes to cook the raw flour taste out.  Then slowly add your milk while whisking and lower the heat to low.  Once you whisk in all of the milk so that the roux and milk have become one mixture you can turn the heat up to med-high.  Allow the sauce to thicken for about 5-10 minutes while stirring every so often. 

By now the water should be boiling.  Add a hand ful of salt to the water and then add the lb. of pasta and stir. 

Once the sauce has thickened add in your three cheeses.  I use cheddar for color, colby jack for flavor, and mozzarella for texture.  Reserve 1 cup of the combination of cheeses for the top.  Then add your parmesan cheese which I use for a salty factor.  Stir until all the cheese has melted.  Then add in your spices and taste the mixture.  It might need a touch more salt to just add it to your taste. 

Once the pasta is done cooking, about 8-10 minutes, drain the pasta and put into a greased baking dish.  Add the sauce on top and stir around to evenly coat each noodle.  Add extra cheese and breadcrumb on top and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly. 

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