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.
The season of melted cheese is upon us.
Just a couple of leftover potatoes give you the perfect excuse to make this delicious potato cake.
Although it’s now an absolute standard of Swiss cuisine, the famous dish Zürich Geschnetzeltes (or Züri Gschnätzlets in dialect) is relatively modern, first appearing in the late 1940s.
It was Swiss farmers who first enjoyed Rösti—for breakfast. Today, this grated, fried potato pancake is enjoyed at any time of day, either as its own meal or as a side dish.
Adventures in making sloe gin, a guest post by my husband Sam, in which he reveals our household motto: as long as it’s plummy, it’s bound to be yummy.
This easy, one-pot meal is a favourite of central Swiss families, especially those in canton Nidwalden. Perfect for new potatoes, beans, and beans' favourite herb, summer savoury. Throw everything in a pot, simmer for an hour, and you've got dinner.
Although Peach Melba itself isn't Swiss, it was a famous partnership between Swiss hotelier Cesar Ritz and famous French chef Auguste Escoffier that enabled its creation.
Easily Switzerland's most famous bread, Zopf is enjoyed in all regions of the country, particularly the Emmental, where butter is treasured and added to the bread with abandon, and the braids are often giant and sold by the metre.
For a long time I only made three strand Zopfs, because I couldn’t master the traditional two-strand method.
Or my husband Sam would swoop in, cross his hands a couple times, and have a perfect two-strand braid.
My husband requests Cholera (the classic Walliser potato and cheese filled pie) on a bi-weekly basis, but during the summer months I am disenchanted by the idea of wrapping potatoes in pastry.
Wrapping bacon, cheese, and peaches I'm OK with.
Switzerland has some seriously great craft beer and the highest brewery to citizen ratio in the world.
The grandfather of craft beer in Switzerland is Brasserie de Franches Montagnes, or BFM, who make a lovely brown ale, La Torpille, perfect for flavouring ice cream.
As much as I love to eat Älplermagrone, it is simply too hot at the moment to consider standing over a pot of steaming milk and cheese. So I give you the perfect way to eat pasta on a hot day—macaroni salad.
On hot days in Switzerland, like in many other countries, people eat salad.
But because it's Switzerland, sometimes a lot of cheese is involved.
Enjoyed throughout Italy and Ticino, Crostata is a great way to use a glut of summer fruits.
Marianne Kaltenbach lists these Polentaknödel as a Bündner speciality in her Aus Schweizer Küchen and drizzles her final, already cheese strewn, product with an espresso cup's worth of melted butter.
Throughout the valleys of Ticino you can find the beloved Luganighe sausage.
The Basler Kirschenbrottorte is just what the German describes—cherry bread cake from Basel. It's basically a big bread pudding, chock full of cherries.
Of course the best kirsch should be drunk alone, however there are a wealth of drinks, like this Kirsch Sour, that could be made with less exclusive varieties (I know everyone who has ever made cheese fondue has a bottle in their liquor cabinet).
This cherry dish is the oldest surviving cherry recipe from the canton of Zug, and was first published in the late 18th century.
The word spätzle (spätzli in Switzerland) literally means 'little sparrows', perhaps describing the shape. The similar knöpfli, which uses the same batter but is formed in a little ball, is the diminutive word for 'buttons' in German.
Vogelheu (literally, bird's hay) is a classic Swiss dinner and the perfect way to use up leftover bread and incorporate seasonal fruits into a meal.
It's basically bite-sized french toast.
