Fondue-ish

Recently, I heard Terry Gross interviewing Ruth Reichl on Fresh Air. Terry asked Ruth what fall recipes are her favorite and she described this Roast Pumpkin with Cheese "Fondue" from the November 08 issue of Gourmet. You layer toasted bread, two kinds of Swiss cheese (Gruyere and Emmantal) and a mixture of cream, broth, and nutmeg inside the pumpkin and then bake the whole thing for an hour or so. Terri asked, "Is it a soup?" but I don't remember exactly what Ruth said.

When writing the title of this recipe, Gourmet puts fondue in quotation marks and I had been calling it fondue until my mom asked me what actually makes something a fondue.

Being Swiss, I thought I owed you a thorough definition of fondue: Fondue originated in Switzerland in the 18th century and the term is used to describe the communal eating process of dipping something in a pot of hot cheese, oil, or broth. Traditional Swiss fondue was a combination of "at least two varieties of cheeses that are melted with wine and a bit of flour and served communally out of pot called a 'caquelon.' Long forks are used by each guest to spear a cube of bread then the bread is dipped into the cheese and eaten" (www.gourmetsleuth.com).

Now, because there are already layers of bread in the pumpkin, you don't really sit around and dip into it with forks like real fondue. It can be eaten as a vegetarian main course or, like we did last night, as an appetizer. I served it with more bread on the side and slices of green apple. You scrape the cooked pumpkin flesh with a spoonful of the melty cheesy goodness and it tastes divine!

Next time, I might try some white wine in place of the broth and a little kirsch for a more traditional fondue flavor (although this is close) and it could definitely use more salt.

Here's the recipe!