A Festive Night In with Heinen’s New Fondue

Recipe and photography provided by Heinen’s partner, Chef Billy Parisi. 

Heinen’s Fondue Cheese Blend is arriving in early December. Please check your local Heinen’s Cheese Department for product availability.

Get into the swing of entertaining this holiday season with the absolutely delicious Heinen’s Fondue Cheese Blend that will definitely be the hit of your next party!

Fondue is a true treat because it’s not a dish or recipe that is often made at home. It’s not that it’s hard, it simply takes time depending on how many delicious foods you want to dip in it.

To save some time, Heinen’s has created a new fondue cheese blend that, I’m not even kidding, was hard to not eat shredded right out of the package. It is nothing short of delicious and would probably also make the best mac and cheese of all time! With all that being said, it makes one of the tastiest fondue cheese dips out there. Let’s get to it!

Fondue Dippers

To me, the best part about fondue is the dippers. This part is completely up to you, but I want to point you in the right direction just to get you started if this is your first time. Here is what I used:

• Evercrisp Apples (yes, they go insanely well with cheese)
• Pain Paillasse (the seasonal variety right now is amazing!)
• Broccoli
• Asparagus
• Baby Bell Peppers
• Seared Filet Mignon
• Seared Chicken Breasts
• Stewed Tomatoes

While these are the dippers I used, I implore you to get creative and have fun with this. You can also use things like roasted pork loin, sliced, roasted mushrooms, carrots, potatoes or cured meats. Seriously, the possibilities are endless, so do it up your way!

How to Make Fondue

Fondue dip is so easy to make you probably won’t believe it.

You start by sautéing a bit of finely-minced garlic in butter just until done. I was always told that once you smell the garlic, it’s good to go.

Next, add in some lemon juice and wine and bring it to a low simmer. I used Apremont, which is a delicious white wine for both drinking and cooking.

Now, you whisk in the fondue cheese blend slowly, and in batches so that it doesn’t clump up. In a traditional recipe, you would need to coat the cheese in cornstarch, but this Heinen’s blend is already tossed with arrowroot, a thickener, so there is no need. Thanks, Heinen’s!

Once all the cheese is in there and melted, simply transfer it to the fondue pot (I got mine at Heinen’s,) light the candle and you are good to start dipping!

Just as an FYI, you can also replace the Apremont wine with a delicious beer, and if you do, Great Lakes Brewery makes some good ones!

Additional Serving Options

In addition to the dippers, I do have to say that Fondue goes amazing when served up with wine or beer. Heinen’s is currently celebrating California Cabernets and I’m not sure there is a better cab out there for the money than Acclaimed. It has some wonderful flavor notes of dark berries with a hint of mint. Seriously a great wine for this.

I also think it’s important to find a wine you love and eat the food you love with it. This fondue would be excellent with so many different beers or wines out there, so get into a Heinen’s and pick up their new fondue blend and have a day over in the meat, produce and wine and beer departments! Happy Holidays’!

Classic Fondue

Served 8

Ingredients

• 2 tsp. unsalted butter
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 1 cup Apremont white wine
• 1 bag of Heinen’s Fondue Cheese blend
• Pre blanched broccoli
• Pre blanched asparagus
• Pain Paillasse artisan bread, sliced
• Filet mignon, seared and sliced
• Chicken breasts, seared and sliced
• stewed tomatoes (sauté garlic and onions and cook with chopped san Marzano tomatoes until thick)

Instructions

1. In a 4-quart pot over low heat, add in the butter and garlic and cook until fragrant.
2. Add in the lemon juice and wine and cook until simmering.
3. Slowly whisk in the cheese blend in small handfuls until smooth and combined.
   Transfer to a fondue bowl over a heating source, such as a candle or Sterno, and serve with wine, beer, stewed tomatoes and dippers.