Roasted Anaheim Queso Fundido

I spent the first 38 years of my life on the border, in El Paso, Texas. This is close to what we referred to as Queso con Rajas, which is wonderful stringy melted white cheese with strips of hot long green chilis in it. It is fabulous with some soft warm tortillas; I prefer corn, but whatever…Get some great hot chilis from Hatch, N.M., and give it another try!

I loved it! it was very easy & delicious. I did grill jalapenos & added that for more heat (I like heat Anyone who says this is not a good recipe obviously didnt follow it properly or can’t cook. You have to use a quality cheese too – it’s all in the quality of the ingredients & basic cooking skills & the ability to follow directions. My family & friends loved it – another great recipe Bobby!

Anyone that gave this a low rating, I don’t think made this recipe correctly, expected something different or altered it in some way. I first had the Queso Fundido at Bobby’s restaurant in Las Vegas and I can say that was superb and this recipe was not quite as good as the restaurant and probably not used with the highest quality of cheese, but I thought it was still wonderful. I used pepper jack to give it a better spice. I wish I knew the brand of cheeses that the restuarant uses and would post here, because that was worth the trip to Las Vegas.

He married a Texas girl so I (being a Texas girl myself) really expected more since the title had the word queso in it. This falls so far from queso like we know it here in Texas. But rereading the title and looking up what the word fundido means puts it more in perspective. But to make it as a queso…never again. Blech.

As suggested by the other reviewers I used only 1 T. of butter and flour for the roux. I also used poblano peppers instead of anaheim as they tend to have more heat to them. It was good but not great.

For the “cooks” that don’t know how to make the mother sauces,perhaps a show to teach them would be a thing for food network to teach them. Without following the recipe as printed , I made the Morney Sauce with the ingredients posted and added rosted garlic to the rest of the ingredients . Great “WOW” factor,thanks Bobby for another great “base” recipe.

I thought this would be the holy grail of queso coming from Bobby but it is only edible if drowned in flavor from guacamole, japones salsa roja, pico, pineapple juice based fajita marinada on corn tortillas. By itself this gets blown away by the processed queso blanco at Wal-Mart/Sam’s if you’re biased toward flavor. I’ve been trying to build some flavor off of the basic principles but I still can’t get it close to what I’ve had in Dallas area restaurants. Still… it’s better than Velveeta. Sorry Chef Flay. 🙁

To cooks commenting on the amount of milk: Bobby made a standard bechamel as a base for the rest of the ingredients. For 4 tbls of flour use approximately 4 cups of milk. If it seems thin just remember that the cheese will cause the sauce to thicken substantially and it will also thicken as it cools.

To cooks commenting on the lack of flavor: Bobby added at least 3 or 4 ounces of goat cheese in addition to the monterey jack.

My changes: I added roasted garlic and roasted serrano chiles simultaneously with the Anaheims. Seemed to improve heat and depth of flavor.

Hope this helps

I watched Bobby Flay make this dish and I thought it would be great especially since his guest on the show said it was good when she tasted it. She lied. It was horrible. I could not get rid of the flour taste which I should have known better. 4 TBS. of flour to 11/4 cups of milk is not right. IF I make this again I will use 1 TBS. of flour. Also even with the cilantro and roasted peppers there was no taste. A huge disappointment.

I was excited to make this recipe, but it turned out ok. It definitely was a lot of work for something that turned out somewhat bland. The anaheim chiles don’t add much flavor to this recipe, and after roasting, peeling, and seeding them I expected a better taste! I probably will not be making this again.