We’ll always have Paris

Published by Tuesday, November 17, 2015 Permalink 0

We’ll always have Paris, at least we hope so.

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Switzerland: Speculoos, Quark and Summer Fruit Pie

Published by Wednesday, June 24, 2015 Permalink 1

Swiss Recipe: Quick, No-bake Summer Fruit Cheesecake

by Jonell Galloway

Ingredients

11 x 7 x 2 in. (28 x 18 x 5 cm) baking dish or deep pie tin
1 box Speculoos ginger cookies
Mixed summer fruit, washed and chopped into fat chunks such as apricots and blueberries + banana
Cinnamon to taste
1 1/2T – 2 T. dark brown cane sugar
1 1/2 – 2 T. maple syrup, depending on sweetness of fruit
Dried chili pepper flakes
500 g Quark* or Séré cheese

Line baking dish with Speculoos to form a crust, covering sides as well as bottom of pan.

 

coop organic quark séré

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chop apricots, blueberries and banana into large bite-size pieces. Place in a bowl. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon. Add 1 1/2 – 2 T. of dark brown sugar, 1 1/2 – 2 T. of maple syrup and a sprinkle of dried chili peppers. Mix well. Marinate for 30 minutes, stirring from time to time.

Mix fruit with one large yogurt-size tub Quark (500 g). Leave to marinate for 30 minutes, stirring from time to time.

coop organic quark séré

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pour quark and fruit mixture into pie pan. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

 

*Quark is a fresh cheese made in the Germanic countries. It is not the same as cottage cheese or cream cheese, since it is made by warming soured milk fermented with mesophile bacteria until it coagulates. It can be replaced by labneh, ricotta, mascarpone, thick fromage blanc or strained yogurt, although the flavor and texture will not be exactly the same.

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Swiss Food: Fribourg-style Saffron Bread

Published by Friday, January 24, 2014 Permalink 0

 

Swiss Food: Fribourg-style Cuchaule: Saffron Bread to Eat with Your Bénichon Mustard

by Jonell Galloway

From the archives

In my article, Bénichon Mustard, A Fribourg Specialty to Welcome the Cows Coming Home a few days ago, I talked about the brioche-like saffron bread cuchaule which is traditionally eaten with Bénichon mustard during the Bénichon fall fair in Fribourg, Switzerland.

I translated this recipe from the Delimoon site from the French and adapted it.

Photo courtesy of Moja Kuchnia with authorization.

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What to do with the last apricots of the season: jam, coulis, baked, purée

Published by Friday, August 9, 2013 Permalink 0

Jonell Galloway, Spontaneous Cuisine, Mindful Eating, Slow Food, Editor of The Rambling EpicureWhat to do with the last apricots of the season: jam, coulis, baked, purée

by Jonell Galloway

From the archives

How to Choose Apricots

apricots_valais_tree_switzerland_suisse_geneva

Photo courtesy of Ellen Wallace.

 

The first and most important thing is to buy tree-ripened apricots. By definition, this means local ones, since ripe apricots are soft to the touch and do not travel well.

If you plan to eat them fresh, they should be soft, but not blemished or bruised. The riper they are, the more flavorful they are.

If you are using them for cooking, the riper the better, and you can even get by with blemishes as long as they are not rotten-looking. As a general rule, the softer the sweeter.

You will often see crates of extra-ripe apricots discounted in farmers markets. Look them over, and if there are not too many black or rotting ones, they are actually the best for cooking purposes, especially for jams, cakes and sauces.

Recipe Ideas for Apricots

Note: With all apricot recipes, the amount of sugar used depends on the acidity of the apricots. The acidity depends on the ripeness, origin and variety. With so many factors coming into play, taste tests are indispensable and the quantity of sugar should be determined by taste, using the quantities given here as a guideline.

Apricot Jam Recipe

The basic formula is 900 grams/2 lbs of sugar for every 2 kilograms/4 1/2 lbs of fruit used. This holds true for apricots, apples, cherries, nectarines and plums. If you like your jam really sweet, you can put equal weights of fruit and sugar.

Use cane sugar for more taste. I often halve the quantity of sugar in dessert recipes, but with jams this can be tricky, since sugar is what makes the jam set. It also serves as a preservative. If your fruit is extra-sweet, you might try cutting the quantity of sugar a tad.

apricot_raspberry_jam_valais-switzerland_suisse_recipe_geneva
Photo courtesy of Ellen Wallace.

 

Wash and rub apricots until perfectly clean. Remove any rotten spots with a paring knife. Dry well. Cut in half and remove stones. Save about half of the stones for later use.

Place apricots in a copper confiturier or a large stock pot. Add sugar. Let it sit overnight.

If the apricots are not ripe enough, they will not render any natural juices. If there are no juices, add 500 ml/1 pint of water to the pan.

Slowly bring to a boil on low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. This can take anywhere from 1 hour to 2 1/2 hours, depending on the water content of the apricots and the type of pan and stove or cooker you are using. Scrape the sides of the pan from time to time so that the mixture doesn’t crystallize.

The jam is set when you can dip a wooden spoon in it and it completely coats the spoon. Let jam settle for about 15 minutes before putting it into jars.

Pour jam into sterilized glass jars. Leave to cool. If you see the jam hasn’t set properly, you can put it back into the pan and boil it again, adding a little lemon juice.

Add two stones to each jar. Cool. Seal jars.

Apricot Purée or Coulis

Once again, the amount of sugar you use depends on whether you want it to have a tart flavor or a sweet flavor. If you’re going to pour it onto a very sweet cake or pie, opt for a more acidic taste. If you’re eating with something that is itself a little acidic, you might want to make your sauce sweeter. And once again, the sweetness will always depend on the ripeness of your apricots, so you’ll have to do a taste test in any case.

Wash apricots. Remove stones.

Put 300 grams/10 ounces of cane sugar (labeled sucre de canne roux or cassonade in Swiss and French supermarkets) and a vanilla bean (cut open in the lengthwise direction) into a saucepan. Slowly bring to a boil over medium heat until it begins to thicken and sugar has completely dissolved, i.e. until it forms a syrup.

Put 500 grams/18 ounces of apricots into a food processor, or run them through a food mill or chinois. Add apricots to the liquid sugar mixture and mix with a wooden spoon. Heat mixture until it is thick enough to completely coat a wooden spoon.

This apricot sauce can be eaten warm or cold, depending on what you are using it with. It keeps for several days in the refrigerator.

Apricot coulis is a perfect accompaniment to a dark chocolate cake, but can be used to make ice cream sundaes or parfaits just as easily.

It can also be used in savory dishes, for example with cold chicken breasts or cold pork roast. In this case, you would of course considerably reduce the amount of sugar.

Roasted Apricots

Preheat oven to 250° C or French mark 8. Wash apricots. Cut in half. Remove stone.

Lay apricot halves out on a roasting tin or broiler pan, or in a large casserole dish. Sprinkle lightly with brown cane sugar and just a tad of butter, distributed evenly in small bits, so that it will form a natural sauce.  (This can also be done on a barbecue grill, but you’d lose the juices.) Put in oven, and immediately turn temperature down to 220° C or French mark 7. Turn when top side is browned. If butter starts to burn, add a few drops of water.

When soft and slightly browned and caramelized, remove from oven or grill.

Distribute on individual plates. Serve with a scoop of salt caramel, coffee or walnut ice cream. Lightly sprinkle with vanilla powder (labeled poudre vanille or vanille en poudre in supermarket; easy to find in France, but difficult to find in Switzerland), cinnamon and a high-quality chocolate or cocoa powder. Drizzle a little maple syrup over it. It is now ready to serve.

Sugar-free Apricot Purée or Coulis

The great French chef Michel Guérard, who started the Cuisine Minceur movement in 1974, has a recipe for a sugar-free version of a coulis. This is adapted from the 1976 edition of Michel Guérard’s Cuisine Minceur, now out of print:

Wash, halve and pit 12 ripe fresh apricots. In a saucepan, add apricots, 1/2 cup of water, 1 vanilla bean (cut open in the lengthwise direction, down the middle) and artificial sweetener to taste, the equivalent of about 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar. Simmer for 10 or 15 minutes, until mixture is reduced by about one third.

Remove vanilla bean. Put mixture in a food processor to make a purée.

This sugar-free sauce can be served in the same manner as the traditional apricot purée or coulis recipe above.

 

Related articles

This article was originally published on GenevaLunch.

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Spontaneous Cuisine: Swiss Easy Fennel and Raclette Potato Salad Recipe

Published by Saturday, July 27, 2013 Permalink 0

Spontaneous Cuisine: Swiss Easy Fennel and Raclette Potato Salad Recipe

by Jonell Galloway

 
 
Photo courtesy of Five Prime.

Ingredients

1 large fennel
3 medium-size raclette or new potatoes

Juice of one blood orange or regular orange, if not available
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons Country Potato spice* OR aniseed/fennel seeds
  1. Preheat grill or broiler.
  2. Cut stalk end of fennel out, then slice thinly in the lengthwise direction.
  3. Scrub potatoes, but do not skin. Slice thinly.
  4. Spread fennel and potatoes onto a heavy roasting tin, in a single layer. Brush both sides with olive oil.
  5. Grill under broiler until nice and brown. Remove tin from oven, and use a metal spatula to turn them, taking care to still have a single layer.
  6. Put back under broiler. When cooked but not yet brown, add spices. Stir well and put back under broiler. When golden brown, remove from oven.
  7. Put mixture into a mixing bowl. Pour juice of one blood orange over mixture. Mix gently but thoroughly, so that the vegetables absorb the juice.
  8. Set aside for 5 minutes so that all the flavors blend together.
  9. Serve warm, either as a salad or side dish. It is a perfect accompaniment to grilled cod or  salmon, and why not chicken?
*Country Potato spice is readily available in Switzerland, but if you don’t have access to it, you can make your own. It’s great on oven fries, chicken breast, and all sorts of other bland dishes you just want to liven up. It is a mixture of curcuma, cumin, coriander, ground manioc, fenugreek, garlic, salt, fennel seeds, chili powder, pepper, paprika, marjoram, ginger, garlic and a touch of sugar.

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Switzerland: Valais Apricots and 10 Things You Can Do with Them

Published by Friday, July 19, 2013 Permalink 0

Switzerland: Valais Apricots and 10 Things You Can Do with ThemJonell Galloway, Spontaneous Cuisine, Mindful Eating, Slow Food, Editor of The Rambling Epicure

by Jonell Galloway

Height of season for Valais apricots, considered best in Switzerland

It is the height of the Valais apricot season, I thought it timely to offer you a few ideas for using them while they’re ripe and ready.

Choosing your apricots

apricots_valais_tree_switzerland_suisse_geneva
Photo courtesy of Ellen Wallace.

The first and most important thing is to buy tree-ripened apricots. By definition, this means local ones, since ripe apricots are soft to the touch and do not travel well.

If you plan to eat them fresh, they should be soft, but not blemished or bruised. The riper they are, the more flavorful they are.

If you are using them for cooking, the riper the better, and you can even get by with blemishes as long as they are not rotten-looking. As a general rule, the softer the sweeter.

You will often see crates of extra-ripe apricots discounted in farmers markets. Look them over, and if there are not too many black or rotting ones, they are actually the best for cooking purposes, especially for jams, cakes and sauces.

Recipe ideas for apricots

Note: With all apricot recipes, the amount of sugar used depends on the acidity of the apricots. The acidity depends on the ripeness, origin and variety. With so many factors coming into play, taste tests are indispensable and the quantity of sugar should be determined by taste, using the quantities given here as a guideline.

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Foraging and Post-Neolithic Cooking: Antonio’s Wild Spinach Salad Recipe, by Jane Le Besque

Published by Sunday, June 16, 2013 Permalink 0

Foraging and Post-Neolithic Cooking: Antonio’s Wild Spinach Salad Recipe, by Jane Le Besque

Antonio’s Wild Spinach Salad Recipe

Jane and Antonio’s recipe is based on foraging and what they imagine post-neolithic cooking to be, foraging and all, but with a modern twist, i.e. the olive oil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Switzerland: Swiss-style Knepfle Pasta

Published by Thursday, June 13, 2013 Permalink 0

by Jonell Galloway

Switzerland: Swiss-style Knepfle Pasta

Knepfle is originally from Alsace in France, but it is also eaten in Switzerland, in particular in the Jura region, which borders Alsace.

You can buy them at the supermarket, but they’re much better when you make them at  home.

Swiss-style Knepfle Recipe

Ingredients

3 1/3 to 4 1/10th cups unbleached white flour
3 eggs
2 cups milk
About 1/2 cup water
3 large pinches of salt
1 oz. butter
Large pan of water for boiling knepfles
Coarse sieve with large holes

Instructions

  1. Put eggs into a bowl. Add milk, water and a pinch of salt. Beat with wire whip.
  2. Little by little, use wire whip to add flour until a heavy dough is formed. The dough should fall naturally off the whip.
  3. Let dough rest for 30 to 60 min.
  4. When time is almost up, bring  large saucepan of water to boil. Add 2 pinches of salt.
  5. Heat an oven dish large enough to hold all the knepfles.
  6. NOTE: The hard part: Real pros push the dough through a coarse sieve, but this can be a bit tricky. If this is your first time making knepfles, I suggest that you drop the dough by teaspoons the first time, and try using a sieve the next time. Make sure you have a sieve with large holes before trying this.
  7. Leave water to boil gently and start dropping teaspoons of dough into water, in several goes.
  8. Let knepfles poach until they rise to the surface. This should take about 15 minutes.
  9. Use a slotted spoon to remove them. Do this carefully so they don’t fall apart. Drain well. Place in heated oven dish.
  10. Do this in steps, until all the dough is used up.
  11. To serve, over medium to medium high heat, melt butter in a frying pan (butter should be sizzling).
  12. When hot, add dry knepfles and brown, carefully turning them from time to time. Cook until browned, about 15 minutes.
  13. Serving: There are many ways to serve knepfles: plain, with cream or bacon bits, or with other sauces.
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Switzerland: Swiss Food: Rhubarb Cream Recipe

Published by Monday, May 27, 2013 Permalink 0

by Jonell Galloway

Cherry-Rhubarb Fool

When you talk about rhubarb cream in Switzerland, you mean rhubarb cream, not pudding or custard. This naughty dessert is one of the easiest rhubarb desserts around, and is so thoroughly Swiss.

Recipe for Rhubarb Cream

Ingredients

Photo courtesy of Robin Stewart

 

1 lb. / 500 g rhubarb
3/4 cup / 200 g cane sugar
 2 egg yolks
 Cinnamon or lemon juice, according to which taste you prefer
3/4 cup / 0.2 l whipping cream

Directions

  1. Scrape or cut off any hard outer surface of rhubarb.
  2. Dice rhubarb and put into saucepan. Add sugar. Cover with water. Cook until tender but firm, 5 to 10 minutes.
  3. While rhubarb is cooking, beat the yolks until smooth.
  4. Run cooked rhubarb through food processor or chinois to purée.
  5. Add hot rhubarb purée to beaten egg yolks. Beat until thoroughly blended and eggs start to cool.
  6. Mix in cinnamon or lemon juice. Set aside to cool.
  7. Beat whipping cream. When it starts to form hard peaks, fold in cooled rhubarb and egg mixture.
  8. Cool in refrigerator, either in individual serving dishes or in a large bowl.
  9. Serve cool.

 

 
 
 
 
 
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What to Eat in Switzerland: A Geneva Christmas: Longeole Sausage

Published by Friday, December 21, 2012 Permalink 0

by Jonell Galloway

From the archives

Christmas traditions in Switzerland

One should never think that everybody in Switzerland eats the same thing for Christmas dinner. With four languages and a multitude of “mini-cultures” tucked away its various mountain niches, and with a huge international population, Switzerland may well have more Christmas menus than any other country in the world.

In the French-speaking part of Switzerland, Geneva’s traditions are quite apart from the Vaud, for example, due to the late date Geneva finally decided to become part of Switzerland. Geneva traditions are often more influenced by their Savoyard and French neighbors, since they share about 100 km of border with them and only 5 km with canton Vaud.

What’s so special about a Longeole?

Many Genevois eat a sausage specific to Geneva called longeole. Every region and many villages have their own sausage recipes, but the longeole is quite apart from the others for several reasons.

 

Longeole sausage and potatoes cooked in
white wine, a Geneva Christmas specialty.

 

For one thing, it contains not only ground pork but also ground pork rind. This keeps it from drying out and gives it fuller flavor. The other, and quite major, difference is that that it is speckled with fennel seeds, probably a Savoyard influence.

Any good local butcher makes his own longeole. If not, it is advisable to find one who does. It’s Christmas, so you want to be certain it’s of good quality.

Cooking Longeole

Longeole is easy to cook, but you must allow yourself enough time. It takes longer to cook than other cooking sausages because of the addition of the pork rind, which is harder than simple ground pork.

Use a soup pot tall enough to hold your sausage. Fill with water and bring water to boil. Add a touch of salt. Drop in sausage, lower heat, and let it simmer for 2 hours 45 minutes or 3 hours. The water should be just on the verge of boiling during the whole cooking time. It is then ready to slice and eat.

Some cooks prick the Longeole with a fork before cooking, but purist that I am, I think you risk losing some of the juices, which would take away from the flavor and make the sausage less succulent in the mouth. It is also important not to let it boil, because this too will dry it out.

What do Genevois eat with Longeole?

Like everywhere, different families have different traditions, different favorites, but the most common accompaniments are potatoes cooked in white wine, lentil stew and cardoon gratin, all Geneva specialties as well.

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