The first dish that we think about when we think of Swiss food is fondue. That is what Josh Eggleton thought too when he did a trip to Zurich recently. Inspired by his trip there and the discoveries he made of the culinary scene, he came up with this recipe as his take on fondue.
Here he is serving it with chargrilled seasonal vegetables as well as bread. I have to tell you that this is a brilliant idea. It added a healthy balance to the otherwise heavy cheese and bread fondue.
We cooked his recipe at a cooking class and one thing I have to highlight is how he cooked the courgettes, this is definitely my favourite way to cook courgettes now. Using just a dry pan, liberally sprinkle salt on the courgettes and places on the hot pan. Allow both sides to brown and char and serve. It was a revelation to all of us as the courgette had a delicious charred flavour and was so easy to make.
This is his recipe for the Ceps Mushroom and Cheese Fondue.
Josh Eggleton's Chargrilled Vegetables with Cheese and Mushroom Fondue
Josh and Jack
Ingredients
Fondue
- Mushroom and Cheese Fondue Recipe
- 2 banana shallots
- 2 garlic cloves
- 300 ml of pale ale
- 30 g of dried ceps 2
- g of unsalted butter20g plain flour
- 10 g English mustard 1 tsp cep powder
- 300 g of Gruyere Emmental or Appenzeller (or use three)
- sea salt
Seasonal Vegetables
- 1 handful of tenderstem broccoli woody stalks trimmed
- 1 handful of large spring onions trimmed (or use calcots if available)
- 1 handful of rainbow chard
- 1 courgette cut into 1cm thick slices at an angle
- rapeseed oil
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4
- 2. Place the shallots and garlic on a sheet of tin foil (In their skins) and wrap the foil round them to form a parcel. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes, or until very soft.
- 3. Bring the beer up to a simmer in a small pan, remove from heat and stir in the dried ceps. Cover and leave to infuse for 20 minutes.
- 4. Strain the infused beer through a sieve into a measuring jug, add the cep powder and top up with cold water to give you 250ml in total. Set aside. Please note that the steeped ceps can be used in other dishes, so don't throw them away.
- 5. On a gentle heat, melt the butter in a heavy-based pan. Stir in the flour and mustard powder and cook out until the roux smells like freshly-baked biscuits.
- 6. Then, slowly and In stages, pour the cep-infused beer into the roux, whisking constantly until the sauce is smooth.
- 7. Peel the roasted shallots and garlic and finely chop. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over them and using the back of your knife, mash to a paste (the salt acts as an abrasive to help with this). Add to the pan
- 8. Add the grated cheese in stages, stirring continuously until all is melted.
- 9. Finally, season with the sea salt. Add more water or beer gradually if you want the sauce more runny and check the seasoning again. Leave the fondue on a very low heat before serving, making sure to stir regularly.
- 10. Blanch the tenderstem and spring onions for 1 minute in heavily salted boiling water then drain and chill quickly in iced water. 11. Use the sarne boiling water to blanch the chard for about 30 seconds, then drain and chi1l in iced water. Drain the vegetables in a colander and dry well with kitchen paper.
- Charred seasonal vegetables
- 12. Season the blanched tenderstem broccoli, spring onions and chard along with the raw courgette with sea salt, cracked black pepper and rapeseed oil. Chargrill, grill or dry-fry the vegetables until just starting to blacken.
- Charred courgettes on a dry pan
- 13. Place the chargrilled vegetables equally on each serving plate and season again with sea salt if required. Pour the fondue into small side bowls and serve with the vegetables.
EatCookExplore was a guest of Visit Zurich and Great British Chefs for this cooking class.
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