Dec. 2004

Fonduta (Cheese fondue)

For 4 servings:

400 grs fontina cheese from Aosta valley, 1 garlic clove, milk, country bread slices, 20 grs butter, 4 egg yolks.

Take away the crust to the fontina cheese, cut it in very thin squares; put in a bowl with the garlic and cover with cold milk. Let for 2 hours in a cool place (not in fridge), drain the cheese and put it in a pan with the butter. Cook a very low fire, without boiling, better in a bain-marie, stirring with a wooden spoon.
When the fontina will start melting, add 1 yolk at a time, always stirring; when everything will look creamy, pour in 4 bowls serving with country bread and, when available, with sliced truffles.

The overwhelming cheese side will be better matched by a local red like a Donnaz rosso, or a Petit Rouge or a Gamay.

Costoletta alla valdostana (Aosta valley style cutlet)

For 4 servings:

4 veal cutlets of 200 grs each, 100 grs Fontina cheese, flour, grated bread, 1 egg, 100 grs butter, salt and pepper, broth.

With a very sharp knife, open horizontally the cutlets, holding them together from the bone. Flatten the meat, insert between the two meat layers the sliced fontina, add salt and pepper, seal the meat on edges by hitting lightly. Put the cutlets through the flour, then in the beaten egg and then in the grated bread, lightly squeezing with the hand to stick everything together. Fry in butte at brisk fire to golden both sides, then at mild fire to melt the inside cheese and serve very warm.

The suggested wines are tasty reds like the Enfer d’Arvier or the Fumin rouge or an Aymavilles rouge.

Bounet alla piemontese (Chocolate pudding)

For 12 servings:

1 litre milk, 8 eggs, 200 grs bitter cocoa, 100 ml coffee, 100 grs toasted hazelnuts, 150 grs Amaretti (macaroons), 30 ml coffee liqueur, 500 grs sugar

Mix the sugar with the eggs, cocoa, the crumbled macaroons, coffee and liqueur, stir thoroughly; add the milk and, aside, prepare some caramelised sugar, put it on the bottom of a mould and pour the compound.
Cook over a water bath in oven at 180°c for 90 minutes.

The chocolate taste can be barely matched by a a sweet wine like a Passito di Chambave or a Malvasia di Nus or, unusual, a Brachetto d’Acqui.