Queso Fundido

This recipe is not your typical mexican queso.  There's a bit of a spin on it, making it less greasy and heavy, which I hope you will find refreshing and delightful!! I would like to try and make this with all goat cheese for my dairy intolerant son, but I haven't found the right mix yet. If you have, let me know!  

Also, this recipe reflects the way I cook.... the measurements are simply a guide, I likely add less or more to my preference and you can do the same - be the artist, not the lab scientist!

The players:

1/2 container of sliced mushrooms

1 onion

1 jalepeno

6 sundried tomatoes in oil

3 cloves garlic

olive oil

1 bottle Mexican beer

8 oz Marscapone Cheese

1 cup shredded Asadero or other melting Mexican cheese

4 oz goat cheese

Tortilla Chips

Chop the mushrooms, onion, jalepeno and sundried tomatoes and garlic* into very small pieces. I like to use my food processor b/c it's fast and easy to get the small pieces I want.   


*I do like to use my garlic press for the garlic so that the pieces of garlic aren't too big!

Besides, it is one of my favorite kitchen tools!

Heat a little splash of olive oil in a 4 qt sauce pan on med/high and then add the chopped veggies and garlic. 

Saute veggies until soft and slightly browned.  While this is happening you can keep an eye on the veggies as you shred the cheese.

I know my veggies are ready when I have little brown bits on the bottom of my pan which is called "fond" (which means bottom in French). This allows me to deglaze the pan with beer, adding all that flavoring into my queso.

To deglaze your pan, open your cold beer....

...and pour in just about a 1/4 cup into your hot pan - enough to make the beer bubble and sizzle in the pan but not so much that it stops sizzling and bubbling. 

Immediately, scrape the bottom of the pan with your wooden spoon or spatula to remove all the flavor (the fond) stuck to the bottom of the pan.  

Add the remaining beer... more or less as to your preference.  

Be careful where you set your beer or you may not have more to add.....

Allow the beer to simmer and evaporate.

Once the liquid is reduced to.... very little or nothing (without letting the veggies scorch and dry out), turn heat to med/low and add cheese slowly and continue to mix as it warms and melts. 

Do not over cook! Once it is melted you are good to go!!

You can pour it into a fondue pot to keep it warm.

If you plan to take it with you somewhere, do all the steps beforehand except melt the cheese and do that once you get to your party!

Then, dip your chip and enjoy!