Spontaneous Cuisine | The Rambling Epicure

About Jonell Galloway

Published by Jonell Galloway + Monday, August 5, 2013 Permalink 0

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Jonell Galloway

Based in Switzerland and France
Skype telephone number: 1-270-859-1112
Skype name: jonell.galloway.white
E-mail: jonell@theramblingepicure.com

Professional History and Experience

I started my culinary career in Paris in the early 80s. At the Sorbonne, where I studied French, I asked for special authorization to write my thesis on the history of French cuisine, which was, exceptionally, granted. I later studied at both the Cordon Bleu and La Varenne, and studied wine in various locations all over France, including Steven Spurrier’s Académie du Vin, often associated with the 1976 Judgment of Paris, and at CAVE S.A. in Switzerland. While in France, I developed and taught a method, Spontaneous Cuisine, a market-based derivation of classic French cuisine; was a contributing editor for the English version of GaultMillau for France, wrote freelance for Paris Voice, and worked as a food translator and interpreter. My articles are available on TheRamblingEpicure.com, 10Best.com/USAToday, GenevaLunch.com, Travora.com, TheRamblingEpicure.tumblr.com, in the Paris Voice archives, as well as those of CityGuide Paris and Gayot Publications for France.

I recently collaborated with Jean-Philippe de Tonnac on Le tour du monde en 80 pains / Around the World with 80 Breads, a bilingual French-English book published by Orphie in Paris. I also collaborated on a review of the life work of contemporary Swiss sculptor André Raboud for Edipresse in Lausanne. I am currently producing an American-adapted version of Christophe Certain’s book Ma Cuisine Méditerranéenne, which I will call Small Plates of the Mediterranean in English.

After moving to Switzerland in 2003, I didn’t work for 7 years. I have recently dedicated myself to a “literary” food website. The Rambling Epicure joins the voices and visions of professional writers and photographers from around the world who promote a mindful, responsible approach to real food shopping, cooking, and eating, as well as wine tasting and pairing, food politics, safety, history, art, literature and philosophy. I invite you to browse the site to see the depth and professionalism of the coverage. http://theramblingepicure.com/

A few years ago, I opened a farm-to-table with my sisters in my hometown of Hardinsburg, Kentucky, where we used local agricultural products and organic ingredients.

I am fluent in English (native tongue), French and Spanish, with rudimentary Italian and Portuguese. Having a scientific background, I thrive on investigative journalism and writing that requires in-depth research and documentation.

I currently divide my time between Switzerland and France, where I have a 1,000-year-old house in Chartres.

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

Published by Jonell Galloway + 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.

What to Eat in Switzerland: A Geneva Christmas: White Wine Potatoes

Published by Jonell Galloway + Friday, December 21, 2012 Permalink 0

A Geneva Christmas: White Wine Potatoes Recipe

by Jonell Galloway

From the archives

In A Geneva Christmas: Longeole sausage, I think I got your mouth watering talking about longeole, or fennel seed sausage. But did you see the potatoes in the photo? That’s THE essential side dish: potatoes cooked in broth and white wine.

I translated and adapted this recipe from A la mode de chez nous, Plaisirs de la table romande, a book on cooking in French-speaking Switzerland, by M. Vidoudez and J. Grangier.

Recipe

A Geneva Christmas-white wine potatoes-Longeole-recipe-Switzerland-the rambling epicure-jonell galloway-genevalunch-traditional dish

Longeole sausage served with
potatoes cooked in white wine and broth

Ingredients

1 kg / 2.2 lbs type 2 all-purpose potatoes

Olive oil, just enough to lightly coat potatoes

1 tablespoon spelt flour (farine d’épeautre), or otherwise whole wheat

240 ml / 1 cup chicken broth

1 onion, diced

1 laurel leaf

3 whole cloves

300 ml / 1 1/4 cup dry white wine

1 bouquet garni

Fresh parsley, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Fennel-flavored Longeole sausages for Christmas, made by Jacky Bula butcher in Geneva

Scrub potatoes. If you really don’t like potato peels, or your potatoes have lots of black spots on them, peel them. Just remember: all the fiber and vitamins are in the peel.
Chop potatoes into large cubes. Put potatoes in a large saucepan. Coat lightly with olive oil and mix well.
Sautée for 2 or 3 minutes, stirring constantly.
Heat broth. Pour hot broth over potatoes. Add chopped onion, laurel, cloves, salt, pepper and bouquet garni. Bring to a boil. Cover, then lower heat and let it boil gently.
Cook until potatoes are soft, about 15 or 20 minutes, depending on the kind of potato and the kind of pan.
While the potatoes are cooking, mix flour and olive oil in a small utility bowl, until it becomes a smooth paste. Add a couple tablespoons of the hot broth from the potatoes to paste, and beat with wire whip until smooth.
Add paste to potatoes, and beat gently with a wire whip. When smooth, add white wine.
Continue cooking, stirring often so that it doesn’t stick, and gently boiling until the sauce starts to thicken.
Taste. Add salt and pepper if required.
Sprinkle with chopped parsley when serving. Traditionally, in Geneva this is served with longeole sausage at Christmas, but it goes well with many dishes, for example a smoked cooking sausage from the canton of Vaud.

Cooking notes: I use a Kuhn Rikon Durotherm to maintain the vitamins and decrease cooking time. This also allows you to use less liquid, which gives a more intense flavor. In this case, you would use just enough broth to cover the potatoes.

What to Eat in Switzerland: A Geneva Christmas: Cardoon Gratin Recipe

Published by Jonell Galloway + Wednesday, December 19, 2012 Permalink 0

by Jonell Galloway

From the archives

Cardoon gratin is a classic Geneva Christmas dish, but only brave souls should try to prepare them because they are prickly, and the preparation can be long and tedious. Many farmers markets in Switzerland now sell them prepared sous vide, in plastic vacuum-packed packages, which is probably the best option for those who don’t get a thrill out of getting a few pricks. In any case, it is important to schedule it carefully into your meal preparations, because it is time-consuming any way you go about it.

Cardoon Gratin Recipe

Preparation of Cardoons for Gratin

Throw out any hard stems and any that are wilted.
Peel the cardoons by removing leaves, spines and stringy parts. The exterior will then be covered with a fuzzy layer. Use a cloth to rub stalks gently to remove fuzz.
Cut stems into 8 cm (3 cm) slices. Rub with lemon, or if you intend to use them later, put slices into lemon water so they won’t turn dark.
You now have two choices: you can either cook them in a white vegetable broth you’ve made ahead of time, or you can cook them in the lemon water you soaked them in.
Bring to a boil and boil until tender. It should take about 30 minutes for them to become tender, but if they are larger in diameter it can take up to 2 hours, so allow plenty of time.

Recipe

All these steps can be carried out while the cardoons are cooking. There are actually several ways of doing this. You can either make a Béchamel (white) sauce and sprinkle cheese on the cardoons before you put them in the oven, or you can make a Mornay (cheese) sauce and pour it on the cooked cardoons before putting in the oven to brown. I think it’s tastier to make a Mornay sauce, and then sprinkle a bit of cheese on the top before putting it in the oven. Here’s my recipe.

Ingredients

Click here for British/American/metric recipe converter

Approximately 1 kg of cardoons

30 g of butter

1 tablespoon of flour

2.5 dl of whole milk

1 dl of cream

50 g of cheese, type Gruyère or Swiss (see photo below), grated

Lemon juice, freshly squeezed

Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Make a Béchamel sauce, using the proportions of ingredients above.
When finished and seasoned, add cream and cheese, setting aside a tablespoon of cheese. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 250° C.
Once cardoons are tender, drain, making sure all water is drained off.
In a large bowl, mix cooked cardoons and Mornay sauce.
Pour into a baking dish of the appropriate size, so that there is a layer of about 3 cm high.
Sprinkle evenly with remaining grated cheese and a few knobs of butter.
Put in hot oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Notes: It is important to use a hard, Swiss-type cheese. Cheddar cheese would have too strong of a taste. If you can’t find cardoons, the same recipe can be made with Swiss chard, thus eliminating the long, meticulous preparation. Simply cut them as for the cardoons and cook in chicken broth until tender, then follow the other steps in the recipe for making the gratin. Its texture is quite similar to that of cardoons.

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