Jonell Galloway | Page 21 of 22 | The Rambling Epicure

The Many Faces of Swiss Fondue and Chasselas wine

Published by Jonell Galloway + Friday, October 14, 2011 Permalink 0

by Jonell Galloway

The word “fondue” means literally “melted” in French. In Switzerland, fondue is made by melting cheese with white wine, pepper, garlic and kirsch (cherry schnapps).

Photo courtesy of Fribourg Tourist Bureau.

Different regions use different cheeses and have different recipes however. In the canton of Valais, no starch, butter, or eggs are added, while in many other regions they are used for thickening. Today, many people use corn starch.

Fribourg fondue is different from other cantons in that it uses Fribourg Vacherin cheese. Both Gruyère and Fribourg make what is referred to as “half and half”, meaning they use half Gruyère and half Fribourg Vacherin cheese.In central Switzerland, it is common to use Gruyère, Emmental and Sbrinz, a hard cheese from central Switzerland that is claimed to be the oldest cheese in Europe.

Switzerland: Filet of Perch with Parsley/chive Sauce Recipe

Published by Jonell Galloway + Thursday, August 25, 2011 Permalink 1

Filet de perche / perch filet, Switzerland, Swiss food and cuisine, recipe

Spontaneous Cuisine, by Jonell Galloway

Traditional dish in Lake Geneva region: filet of perch with parsley, chives and butter: a recipe with a twist

Recipe

Ingredients

1 kg / 2.2 lbs of filet of perch

1.2 dl / 1/2 cup of white wine

125 g / 1 stick butter

1 large clove of garlic, finely chopped

1 1/2 teaspoons of strong mustard

2 egg yolks

Parsley, 1 large bunch

Chives, 1 large bunch

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 220°C / 425°F.
Butter a baking dish that can also be used on stovetop. Add wine and garlic.
Arrange filets in a baking dish. Salt and pepper.
Bake for about 8 minutes or until fish is cooked but still firm. Carefully remove fish and set it aside.
Use cooking juices in baking dish to make sauce. Add butter, mustard and egg yolk.
Cook over very low heat, stirring constantly with a wire whip. Add parsley. Warning: If you turn the heat too high and quite stirring, you will end up with scrambled eggs instead of sauce!
Arrange perch on serving plates, preferably warm. Pour sauce over fish and serve immediately.

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French Food Quote: Daily Food Quote, August 16, 2011

Published by Jonell Galloway + Tuesday, August 16, 2011 Permalink 0

by Jonell Galloway

Noncooks think it’s silly to invest two hours’ work in two minutes’ enjoyment; but if cooking is evanescent, so is the ballet.–Julia Child

Julia Child, (1912 – 2004), American cookbook writer, TV personality and tremendous contributor to the food world, introduced Americans to the techniques of French cooking with her classic book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volumes I and II.

Julia Child brought French food to post-war America. When her husband Paul was posted to Paris, she studied at L’Ecole du Cordon Bleu, and went on to form her own cooking school with fellow students Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle. The threesome went on to write the 2-volume classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which covered all the basic techniques and dishes of classic French cuisine.

Image via Wikipedi

Happy 99th Birthday, Julia Child!

Published by Jonell Galloway + Monday, August 15, 2011 Permalink 0

by Julia Child

Julia Child would have turned 99 today.

Julia Child brought French food to post-war America. When her husband Paul was posted to Paris, she studied at L’Ecole du Cordon Bleu, and went on to form her own cooking school with fellow students Mastering the Art of French Cooking and Louisette Bertholle. The threesome went on to write the 2-volume classic Coq au Vin , which covered all the basic techniques and dishes of classic French cuisine.

Vichyssoise

And indeed she proved to be right. It is only now, 60 years later, that cooking has established itself as gastronomy, and only when referring to a few great American chefs.

This is Foodista’s list of their favorite Julia recipes.

Coq au Vin

Rooster cooked in red wine is a classic Burgundian dish made with red wine, mushrooms, onions, bacon and herbs.

Duck a l’Orange

Vichyssoise is actually the base of almost all French soups. This simple base — made of potatoes, leeks, and salt — is elaborated on in countless ways to make an endless variety of soup. When served cold in summer and cream is added, it is referred to as Vichyssoise.

Boeuf Bourguignon

Ratatouille brings all the flavors of the Southern sun together: red ripe tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, garlic, onions and Provençal herbs. Today there are many other versions, many of them even in the oven, but this is the classic recipe.

Upside-Down Martini

The problem with duck is always the same: the fat spews all over the place and it is difficult to digest. The acid of the orange in this classic French dish helps digest the fat, and makes it tasty too. This is a favorite Julia Child recipe.

Custard Apple Tart

Boeuf Bourguignon is a fancy version of our classic beef stew. What makes it different is that it is cooked in red wine, and pearl onions and mushroom caps are added to it.

Plum Clafoutis

Not surprising that Julia loved Martinis. She added vermouth to just about any sauce she could work it in to.

Sabayon

Not all French pies are made with custard, but you often find this version in Normandy, the land of cream and butter. It can be served either cold or warm.

Lessons from Julia Child

Clafoutis can be made with many different fruits, but plus and cherries are all-time French favorites. This tart has a custard-like consistency, but also contains ground almonds, giving it a salty edge.

Sabayon is a a cousin of the light, egg-based Italian dessert zabaglione. It is light and custard-like, and a standard in French as well as British cuisine.

French Food Quote: Daily Food Quote, August 15, 2011

Published by Jonell Galloway + Monday, August 15, 2011 Permalink 0

by Jonell Galloway

Nouvelle cuisine was so specifically French that it was, and still is, misunderstood in the rest of the world. You have to be dominated by Escoffier before rejecting him becomes meaningful.–Mark Kurlansky, Choice Cuts (2002)

Mark Kurlansky’s Choice Cuts features more than 200 essays on what great thinkers, writers, musicians and sometimes even foodies thought about food in all its forms throughout time. It is essential to any cookbook collection and serves as an amusing read at any time of the day.

Switzerland: Pan-fried Sérac Cheese & Potato Salad Recipe

Published by Jonell Galloway + Friday, August 5, 2011 Permalink 0

Spontaneous Cuisine, by Jonell Galloway

Swiss Sérac cheese, a fresh cow’s milk cheese made with whey

Whey cheese is produced when the curds are separated from the whey to make cheese. Ricotta is also a whey cheese, but unlike Sérac, it is often made with sheep’s milk. As a result, you can use your local cheesemonger’s Sérac in most recipes that call for ricotta.

Photo courtesy of FribourgRegion tourist office.

Photo courtesy of Fribourg Region tourist office.

Sérac is made in most regions of Switzerland, and each region has its own version. Some regions smoke it; others flavor it with herbs, spices or pepper.

Sérac cheese is soft and creamy in texture, so it is easy to spread it on bread to make a healthy sandwich or snack, but Sérac is not only a snack cheese. It can also be used to make healthy, quick meals, such as the recipe below. In the summertime, I often use it like mozzarella, with tomatoes and basil or other Italian-inspired recipes.

It is a great way of teaching your children to eat healthy snacks. Top it with fresh fruit to make a healthy, low-fat dessert, or use it for between-meal snacks on chunky whole-grain bread.

Since it is a fresh milk cheese, it does not keep, and should be eaten shortly after purchasing. Because it is made from fresh milk whey, it is also naturally low in fat. In Switzerland, it would have about a 3.8% fat content, the same as milk.

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Spontaneous Cuisine: Strawberry-Rhubarb Compote, It’s in Season!

Published by Jonell Galloway + Monday, April 18, 2011 Permalink 0

by Jonell Galloway

Recipe: Strawberry-Rhubarb Compote

I always get really excited when the strawberries and rhubarb come on the market. For me it’s literally like “breaking news.” They’re really the first local fruit.

Photo courtesy of Happy Hoarfrost.

One of my favorite dishes is strawberry-rhubarb compote. It’s healthy, full of fiber and vitamins; it’s also versatile and can be used in many ways.

In addition, it’s about as easy as you can get.

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Food Poetry: Walnut, by Kim Roberts

Published by Jonell Galloway + Tuesday, March 1, 2011 Permalink 0

WALNUT

A withered heart
cupped in a tough cardboard membrane
inside a mahogany crate
packed like a precious sculpture
loaned to another museum
where we curators, critics all,
pry them open with crude levers.
The heart looks so unpromising and sere,
but in the chamber of our mouths,
with only a touch of bitterness,
it opens black exotic blooms.

Switzerland has its own AOCs!

Published by Jonell Galloway + Sunday, February 27, 2011 Permalink 0

by Jonell Galloway

When it comes to wine and food, a name is not just a name

Switzerland has had AOCs for a while now, but on 14 January 2010, the Swiss federal agriculture office, OFAG, published an official bulletin containing a list of approximately 800 appellations of origin and geographical indications, roughly the equivalent of the French Appellations d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC). These were voted in in the context of a reciprocal agreement with the EU, and are to be protected and respected throughout the EU.

GruyereAOC-Switzerland-the rambling epicure-jonell galloway-genevalunch-cheese

The Rambling Epicure Voices

Published by Jonell Galloway + Monday, February 7, 2011 Permalink 0

Jenn Oliver writes our column Culinary Chemistry. She has a Ph.D. in science, where she explains the scientific aspects of what really goes on when you cook (the next Harold McGee?). She’s been running a gluten-free blog, Jenn Cuisine, since 2008 and her kitchen is more like a laboratory than a kitchen. She’s focuses her chemical calculations and experiments on figuring out how to make traditionally glutinous food gluten-free.

Esmaa Self writes the Wild Woman on Feral Acres column. She lives on a small farm in Colorado where she employs organic and sustainable methods to grow fruits, vegetables and herbs, raise chickens, bees and fish and where she routinely turns out imaginative, healthy, guilt-free meals from scratch. One of her numerous blogs recounts her farming adventures: Backyard Eggs. She also writes novels and contributes to numerous organic farming and green publications, and runs a sustainable living site, Homeostasis.

Simon de Swaan is Food and Beverage Director at the Four Seasons hotel in New York City. He studied at the Culinary Institute of America and has an incredible collection of antique cookbooks and books about food and eating, from which he often posts interesting and unusual quotes. In his column Simon Says, he gives us daily food quotes from his tomes.

Jean-Philippe de Tonnac is an essayist, editor and journalist. He directed the special editions of the Nouvel Observateur for almost ten years and and has published twenty books. As preparation for publication of his Universal Dictionary of Bread (Dictionnaire universel du pain, Bouquins Laffont, 2010), he obtained a baker’s certificate (CAP) at the Ecole de Boulangerie et Pâtisserie de Paris in 2007, and traveled worldwide to countries where bread held a particular cultural significance.