“There is no love sincerer than the love of food.” ~ George Bernard Shaw, Irish Playwright.
I think Mr. Shaw and I would have gotten along quite well. The love of good food is indeed a passion. People spend years perfecting dishes. Families have spent centuries on farms, developing and cultivating great food to share with the world. Kerrygold obviously has that same passion for their cheeses and butters. Personally, I adore working with stunning ingredients so getting the opportunity to create something with Kerrygold cheese was a fantastic experience!
If you’ve been following, our Inland Empire Food Bloggers Group hosted a #PotOKerrygold Potluck Party! We were fortunate enough to have Kerrygold provide cheese and butter for our party and we went ALL OUT to make some great dishes! My first contribution to the party were these Dubliner Cottage Pie Puffs, filled with Kerrygold Dubliner Cheese, ground turkey, onions and carrots, all wrapped in a flaky puff pastry and brushed with Kerrygold Garlic and Herb Butter. Yum!
My second contribution was this amazing Three Cheese Onion Apple and Hard Cider Fondue. Yes. It’s a Kerrygold Cheese Fondue! C’mon. It’s a party! What’s more fun than dunking bread into melted cheese?
To start the fondue, I shredded 1/2 lb each Kerrygold Dubliner Cheese, Skellig Cheese and Red Leicester. These three cheeses are various forms of Cheddar and each has a distinct flavor profile. My hands down favorite is the Skellig Cheese. It’s a sweet cheddar that is rich and full with a little sharpness at the end. I love it on sandwiches! Combining all three for a fondue created layers of flavor with each bite. After shredding the cheese, I tossed it with a little bit of flour and some dry mustard so the pieces wouldn’t stick together and would melt nicely. Plus the mustard adds a nice bit of tang to offset the sweetness of the apples!
Straight into the fondue pot, I placed one finely chopped shallot (about 2 TBLS total) and one small-diced Granny Smith Apple (about 1/2 cup) and sautéed them in a TBLS of Kerrygold Unsalted Butter until they were tender, about 3-4 minutes. After the shallots and apples are soft and golden brown, I added 2 cups of Hard Cider. I used Stella Artois, but feel free to use your favorite Cider, or even a dark malty beer would be great!
Bring the cider to a boil and then reduce the heat so the cider is just simmering. Once the cider/apple mix is simmering, very slowly, add your shredded cheese a handful at a time. Whisk each addition until it’s smooth before adding more cheese. This can take a little while, so don’t rush. It’s worth it in the end to go slowly and have a velvety smooth, rich cheese fondue. If it does break and become grainy, don’t panic! Simply whisk together 2 TBLS cornstarch with 1/4 cup of the cold cider. Add the cornstarch mixture a little at a time into your fondue, whisking until it thickens. (You won’t need all of it.) Situation saved!
Serve your fondue with pieces of crusty sourdough or a french baguette and apple slices.
Not only can you recreate these dishes for your own St Patrick’s Day Party, but you can enter to win a stunning gift basket full of Kerrygold products. Follow this link to enter today!
Here are more recipes from my fellow IEFB team!
Shepards Pie from Decadently Fit
Irish Stuffed Dates from It’s Okay To Eat The Cupcake
Triple Threat Shot Cakes from The Devil Wears Parsley
Irish Rarebit by Christy Majors
Enjoy my friends!!
