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.
Normally any Toblerone that makes it into my kitchen gets eaten long before it gets baked with.
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.
Bread and cheese and pears, with wine to boot.
The recipe comes from the classic Swiss Home Ec textbook, Tip Topf, and is incredibly adaptable—whatever you have in your cupboard can be added to the cake.
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.
Vacherin Mont d'Or is special for a number of reasons.
Firstly and most importantly, it is like its own little fondue, complete with pot. You wrap the whole thing in foil, then stick it in the oven and voilà, dippable cheese.
"It has ovomaltine in it, doesn't it?"
"Yep."
"Well, surely that makes it a breakfast food?"
A common exchange in our kitchen that has been used to justify breakfasting on Ovomaltine Crunchy Cream, Ovomaltine Petit Beurres, and now this cake.
Here's where to find most of these Linzer beasts—in my belly.
It was a mistake to think I could make these in advance and save them for Sam, my Valentine.
Sorry, Sam.
Josy, my mother-in-law, makes the very best pork tenderloin. She studs it with prunes, then wraps it in bacon and puff pastry. It's divine.
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.
I was pretty convinced that Switzerland could not do brownies—but that was before I found a recipe for Basler Schoggitorf.
Plain in Pigna removes the two most annoying aspects of Rösti-making. Having day old boiled potatoes on hand, and the dreaded flip.
With a glut of fresh pineapple, this tropical birchermüesli was born. It uses coconut milk, toasted coconut and dried pineapple, though you could use any dried tropical fruit. The most important thing is to only add the pineapple at the end—if you let it sit in the yogurt it gives it a funny, curdled taste. You can really easily make this dairy-free by using a non-dairy yogurt.
Swiss families celebrate the sixth of January, Epiphany, by eating Dreikönigskuchen. This holiday celebrates the three kings finally reaching Bethlehem, and so a small plastic king figurine is baked into the bread. Whoever finds it is king for the day.
In Switzerland there typically isn't a set food to eat during the holidays, but somewhere between Christmas and New Year most Swiss families eat a fondue. Whether Cheese or Chinoise, forks are dipped.
These boozy balls are ones you'll actually want to eat.
You can make them gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, even booze-free—the variety is endless.
Nothing says festive like a shot of booze.
The result of all these Samichlaus sacks is that you sometimes end up with a glut of peanuts, chocolate, and oranges. If you get tired of eating them, don't despair, chop them up and make this easy recipe with the leftovers.
With a newborn at home, I've got 'wickel'-ing on the mind. So, when I saw this recipe in Tip Topf I thought it was a sign for me to make this Wickelkuchen.
