Hi, I'm Andie.
I live near the Swiss Alps, in Bern, and I love not only melting cheese, but all kinds of Swiss cooking.
All in Classic Swiss Recipes
A magnet for children (and my husband), the bright green icing hides an intense chocolate filling.
These love letters from canton Solothurn are a perfect treat for your Gal- or Valentine.
Schinken im Teig just means ham in dough. Here the pork is first studded with dried fruit and carefully wrapped with bacon.
With a few humble ingredients you can make this classic dish from canton Uri—pear mashed potatoes, crowned with onions.
There is a persistent rumour that the dish is indeed named for the disease Cholera, after a particularly bad outbreak in the 1830. People in the Wallis stayed home to avoid contamination and were forced to use things they already had in their larder and gardens to feed their families.
More likely, however, is that it's named after the glowing coal in the fireplace where the pan would have sat to bake.
Grittibänz, sweet doughy bread boys, accompany the visit from Samichlaus on December 6th.
The name is misleading—vin cuit (cooked wine) is actually a thick syrup made from boiling down pears, sometimes apples, and rarely grapes, until they become dark, sweet, sticky, and molasses-y. Traditionally, this was done in big copper pots over open fires.
When I asked Sam about his favourite Swiss summer dishes the classic, meaty, Siedfleischsalat was at the top of his list.
Polenta is yellow cornmeal that's cooked over low heat until it becomes a delicious, tender mash. It belongs, with chestnuts and risotto, to the traditional peasant foods of Ticino.
With the mercury just over 30°C at the moment, it's certainly too hot to cook, and luckily my Aunt Vreni recently gave me her super quick and easy recipe for Birchermüesli.
Wandering bakers ventured forth from Graubünden and eventually made it home—then baked this delicious caramel and walnut tart.
Wähe makes an excellent breakfast, lunch or dinner. Although you can make it with a variety of fruits, here's one of the classics: apricot.
Holunderblütensirup (elderflower syrup) is a syrup of many uses. In Switzerland it is added with abandon to sparking water, wine or cocktails (Hugo) for a light and floral summery taste.
They weren't kidding when they said there were as many versions of Capuns as there are grandmothers in Graubünden.
Capuns are basically a kind of dumpling, wrapped in greens, and simmered in milk or cream.
Have some dried pears? Make your own Schlorzi!
My grandmother was an expert mushroom hunter. She would take morning hikes through the forest, collect them in an old wicker basket, and then make Pastetli with mushroom filling for lunch. The secret of which mushrooms to pick was then passed on to my aunt and cousin.
Because mushrooms can definitely kill you.
There are 150 valleys in the canton of Graubünden and each probably has a different version of this, the region's most famous soup.
Different meats and vegetables can be used, but the unchanging ingredient is pearl barley, and it's the texture of the barley that makes this soup particularly satisfying.
The name Schnitz und Drunder (which to me evokes a metal song or German comedy duo) varies from region to region, but the contents are basically the same—potatoes, dried fruit, and often bacon or smoked meat.
Plain in Pigna removes the two most annoying aspects of Rösti-making. Having day old boiled potatoes on hand, and the dreaded flip.
