Smoked Mozzarella Fondue

When we go to Olive Garden (never. Brian hates it. HATES it. He’s so picky.) I always drool over the smoked mozzarella fonduta appetizer. Then one day, back in the I Suck At This Cooking Stuff days, I wandered online to search for a recipe. It’s melted cheese. It couldn’t be that complicated to make, right?

Right! This is such a fast recipe to throw together. The most time-consuming part is grating the cheese.

Sidebar: I have a confession. I loathe grating cheese. For some reason, I’m very, very slow at it and it takes me half the time of preparing and cooking a dish to grate the dang cheese.

Just a suggestion- if at all possible, purchase slightly more of the smoked cheese than you need. If you’re anything like us, you’ll end up eating half of it while it’s being grated, then you’ll need to go buy more for the actual fondue. Not that I’ve ever done that….

Smoked Mozzarella Fondue
print this recipe

Ingredients:
3 C shredded smoked mozzarella cheese*
3 C shredded provolone cheese*
1 C sour cream
1 t. dried thyme
1/2 t. red pepper flakes
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
3 T. grated romano cheese
3 T. grated parmesan cheese
diced roma tomatoes and chopped fresh parsley for garnishing, if desired. I leave these out
1 loaf Italian or French bread, sliced into pieces. I prefer them a bit thicker- 1/2 inch or so

* Note: You can use either smoked mozzarella or smoked provolone, but just use one of the cheese smoked. Otherwise the flavor gets a bit overwhelming.

Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 450°.

Grate the cheese and set in a large bowl. Mix together the mozzarella, provolone, sour cream and spices until well combined.

Lightly oil a 9×9 glass pan. Pour the cheese mixture into the pan and bake for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, slice the bread into 1/4 inch thick slices (or however thick you’d prefer). Set them on a lightly greased cookie sheet.

Add the bread into the oven and bake both the fondue and bread for another 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and slightly bubbly on the edges and the bread is toasted.

Garnish with tomato & parsley and serve. (I skip the garnish)

Source: Unsure. I believe I got the recipe straight from Olive Garden’s website a few years ago.