FONDUE VALLE D'AOSTA-STYLE

Fondue Valle D'Aosta-Style image

If you liked the fondues so popular in the 1960s-those pots or chafing dishes of melted cheese in which everyone dunked crudités, crackers, and bread-you will be thrilled to taste an authentic fonduta as it is prepared in Valle d'Aosta. Though the technique of melting cheese over a low flame is much the same, the main ingredient makes all the difference: nothing compares to a fondue of authentic fontina, the sweet, nutty, semi-soft cheese made only in the Aosta Valley-and only from the milk of those gentle dappled red, brown, and black Valdostana cows. Customarily served as a dip for chunks of toasted bread, fonduta is a great sauce for all kinds of foods. I like it on poultry and meats, such as poached chicken or turkey breast, or lightly seared veal medallions; or on vegetables-steamed asparagus, broccoli, cardoons, celery, and many more. And it's delicious spooned over a bowl of hot polenta or boiled gnocchi. There's one more thing I must tell you. La sua morte, as it is said in Italian, the ultimate pleasurable enjoyment of fonduta alla Valdostana, is to top it with shavings of fresh white Alba truffle from neighboring Piemonte. Two Italian treasures in one dish.

Yield serves 6

Number Of Ingredients 7

Ingredients

1 pound fontina from Valle d'Aosta (or Italian Fontal; see box, page 74), shredded
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2-pound (or larger) chunk or whole loaf of Italian or other light-textured tasty bread
2 tablespoons butter
2 egg yolks
Pinch of kosher salt
A box grater/shredder or other hand shredder; a 2-quart heavy-bottomed saucepan; a wire whisk; 6 small glazed terra-cotta pots or other bowls or ramekins (8 to 12 ounces each in volume) for individual servings, or one large ceramic vessel for a communal fonduta

Steps:

Heap the shredded fontina in a glass or glazed ceramic bowl, and pour the milk over it. Stir to make sure the cheese is submerged, seal the bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.
To make toasts for dipping: Heat the oven to 350°. Slice the bread chunk or loaf lengthwise into big oval slabs about an inch thick. Cut these into small blocks, 3 to 4 inches long and 2 or 3 inches wide (the size of a BlackBerry or iPod!), that will afford a few good bites when dipped in the fondue. Lay the bread blocks flat on a baking sheet, and toast in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, turning now and then, until golden brown and crisp all the way through.
To make the fonduta: Stir the milk and cheese shreds (now softened and crumbling) and scrape them into the saucepan. Heat slowly over a low flame, stirring often, as the cheese melts and blends with the milk, until smooth and steaming hot. Whisk in the butter, and keep the fonduta over low heat-but don't let it boil.
Beat the egg yolks and pinch of salt in a heatproof bowl with the whisk. Ladle out 1/4 cup of the hot fondue and drizzle it very gradually into the egg yolks while whisking steadily (this tempers the yolks so they cook without coagulating), until thoroughly blended, then whisk in another 1/2 cup hot fondue, until smooth. Now slowly drip the tempered yolk mixture back into the saucepan of fonduta, whisking rapidly, until fully incorporated.
Still over low heat, cook the fonduta slowly, without boiling, stirring often, for about 10 minutes, until smooth and thickened, easily coating the back of a spoon (or a bread toast).
For serving, warm the small serving bowls (or the large one if serving communally), and pour in fonduta in equal portions. Give everyone a spoon and a fork to dunk in those last pieces of bread, and wipe up the fonduta from the bottom of the bowl.