When I was little, my mom used to invite all of our neighbours over for a New Year’s Eve fondue party. There’d be a few pots bubbling away with Gruyère, a couple filled with hot oil surrounded by steak, chicken, and shrimp, and, of course, some silky chocolate fondue for dessert. Rather than make you go to all of the trouble of setting up a fondue pot and carefully adding cheese to bubbling white wine, I offer you my cheater’s version.
Ingredients
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp olive oil
3–4 cups assorted mushrooms, cleaned, sliced or torn (see note)
1 sprig rosemary
3 sprigs thyme
Kosher salt
Freshly cracked black pepper
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1/4 cup dry white wine
8 1/2–10 1/2 oz Camembert cheese, cubed
Crusty French bread
Directions
Position an oven rack in the top third of your oven and turn on the broiler.
Set a cast iron, or other ovenproof, skillet over medium-high heat and melt the butter and oil. Toss in the mushrooms, rosemary, and thyme and season with a little salt and pepper. Cook the mushrooms until they have released their liquid and all of it has evaporated and the mushrooms begin to caramelize, about 5 to 6 minutes. Turn off the heat and add in first the garlic and then the white wine. Stir, scraping the bottom of the pan to deglaze, until all of the wine has evaporated.
Scatter the cheese on top of the mushrooms and place the pan in the oven. Broil for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbling. Serve hot from the oven with lots of crusty bread for dipping.
Note
Any mushrooms or combo of mushrooms would be delicious, but shiitake, Portobello, cremini, and king oyster are my favourites for this recipe.
Excerpted from Kitchen Party by Mary Berg. Copyright © 2019 Mary Berg. Photography by Lauren Vandenbrook. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.
