Things To Make In Your Fondue Pot Besides Fondue

 

Have you ever gotten a gift for a wedding or holiday and wondered, what the heck am I going to do with this? That's what I said when my husband and I got a fondue pot from his grandmother. Fondue is great, but it's not something we would make on a regular basis. The fact that my husband is lactose-intolerant doesn't help either. We didn't want to insult Granny by putting her gift in the basement (although she'd probably never find out), so we looked around to see if there were other ways we could use it. Believe it or not, there are quite a few things you can make in a fondue pot that have nothing to do with, well, fondue. Here are a couple of the recipes we found.

Vegetable Tempura

Peanut oil for frying

Vegetables-washed, peeled, cut into chunks. You can use carrots, zucchini, sweet potatoes, whatever.

2 eggs, beaten lightly

1 1/3 cups cold water

1 cup corn starch

1 cup flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar

Pour the peanut oil into the fondue pot and heat to 350.

In one bowl, combine the corn starch, flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and baking soda. In another, larger bowl, combine the water and eggs. Then, stir the dry mixture into the wet mixture until the batter is just slightly lumpy. Don't stir too much.

Now, skewer a chunk drag into the batter until coated but not dripping. Dip and let them fry until the batter is golden brown and the vegetables are softened, about 3-4 minutes.

We once did the same thing with boiled shrimp and chunks of cooked chicken.

I used to work at a restaurant that made its own potato chips. We would love it when the cooks would 'accidentally' make too many and we had to 'put them to use'. “Oops, I made too much. Oh well, guess we'll just have to eat them. My bad.” :)

Homemade potato chips

4 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

1 quart oil for deep frying

3 tbsp salt

Heat the oil in the pot to 365 F.

Slice the potatoes thinly and put in a bowl of cold water. You can use a sharp knife for slicing, but a mandolin slicer or multi-purpose grater will work too. Then, drain the slices. Rinse out the bowl, re-fill with water and add the salt. Let the slices soak in the salty water for at least half an hour. Drain, rinse, drain again.

Now, dip the slices and fry in smaller batches until golden. Drain on paper towels, cool and serve.

Some people leave on a bit of the skin for extra flavor. If you really want something awesome, make 'loaded-baked-potato-chips' and sprinkle butter, cheese, chives and bacon bits on a pile of warm chips before serving!

As you can see, there is more than one way to use a fondue pot. Basically, if you can make it in a deep fryer, you can make it in a fondue pot. What are some of your favorite recipes?