Steak Fondue - Alpine style

I have had many Asian steamboat/ hotpot but never an Alpine style fondue until my recent snow holiday to Austria, where I sampled a divine steak fondue and am determined to recreate this in my own kitchen. 

On the chalet host's day off, we were booked into Kitzloch in Ischgl for a fondue night. Between the cheese and steak options, I opted for the latter and it most certainly did not disappoint. To get our appetite going for some tasty meat, we were served grilled ribs, garlic bread, chips and plenty of fine wine to begin with. A huge plate of thinly sliced fillet steak was then brought to our table, along with 5 different dipping sauces: cocktail, curry, mustard, horseradish and herbs. We forked our slices of steak, dipped them into the tasty beef broth and cooked to our individual taste. I prefer mine quite rare so a quick 10 second dip was good enough.

In the UK, fondue was a popular choice for entertaining guests in the 80s but the enthusiasm soon faded, as most found the preparation arduous. The American popularised chocolate fountain in the 2000s which was originally designed to use in the hotel and resort industry. This trend has indirectly helped to revive the fondue scene: instead of purchasing yet another kitchen novelty, this gives most of us a great reason to blow the dust off that fondue set given by Aunt Bessie some years ago and has been sitting in the attic since. Moreover, dipping fruits into warm, melted Belgian chocolate has made consuming 5-a-day a more enjoyable experience.

The set I have uses methylated spirit burner. There are a variety of fondue set available on the market to suit your preference. Electrically heated ones would be most convenient of all and as for the tea light ones, well I never quite grasped the concept of that.

I made the below simple beef broth the day before. Alternatively, good quality read-made beef stock or consomme are just as good.

1 beef bone marrow
1 carrot, halved
2 stalks of celery, halved
1 onion, halved
2 bay leaves
3 cloves of garlic
6 whole peppercorns
1 leek, halved
0.5l good quality beef consomme
1L boiling water

1. Heat a drizzle of rapeseed oil in the stockpot. Brown the vegetables for 5 minutes.

2. Add in the bay leaves and peppercorns along with the bone marrow. Cook for a further 5 minutes.

3. Pour in the beef consomme and bring it to simmer.

4. Pour in the boiling water. Bring it to boil and let it simmer on a low heat for a couple of hours. Season with sea salt to taste.

As for the dipping sauces, I compared a number of recipes and generally can't go wrong with the following combinations. Of course it all depends on your own taste and the number you're catering for.

Horseradish Sauce

3 tsp of horseradish
1 dash of Worcester sauce
1 dollop of sour cream
1 dollop of mayonnaise
Pinch of cayenne pepper

Curry Sauce

2 tsp of curry powder
1 tsp of cayenne pepper
1 dollop of sour cream
1 dollop of mayonnaise

So, the key ingredient that is fillet steak. I bought 550g of fillet steak from a local butcher and asked them to be thinly sliced.

I also made some potato wedges to go with the meat:

And here we have a steak fondue feast :)

Ratatouille with roast chicken legs

Ratatouille is a colourful Provencal vegetable dish that is flavorsome and wholesome enough to serves as a main dish, with a rustic French baguette; or it would make a fantastic side dish to go with any roast meat. It is debatable as what an authentic and traditional ratatouille should contain, but having studied various recipes, the key ingredients are aubergine, courgette, onion, tomato and garlic. Do avoid chopping the vegetables too small or risk them being dried up.

I served mine with a whole corn fed free range chicken leg. This dish would go nicely with a roast leg of lamb or pan fry fish. It is a hassle-free dish, great for entertaining friends and family over this Easter weekend!

Serves 2

Courgette, roughly chopped

Red onion,  roughly chopped

Red pepper,  roughly chopped

Yellow pepper,  roughly chopped

Leek,  roughly chopped

3 garlic cloves, leave whole

Punnet of button mushrooms, halves 

Tomato passata 

Pinch of Herbes de Provence 

Lemon, thickly sliced

Pinch of thyme 

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degree.

2. Prepare all the vegetables and place them onto a roasting tin. Drizzle a generous amount of rapeseed oil, season with salt & pepper and Herbes de Provence and massage the vegetables gently. 

3. Place the lemon slices in a separate roast tin and put the chicken legs on top. Drizzle rapeseed oil, season with salt & pepper and sprinkle a pinch of thyme over the meat. 

4. Place the vegetables and chicken into the oven for approximately 45 minutes or until cooked through. Check them periodically and turn the vegetables over every 20 minutes or so. If the chicken became dry, spoon the chicken and lemon juice over the skin to dehydrate. 

Enjoy!