Swiss Wild Mushroom Fondue

Here in Switzerland, winter is cheese season – Raclette and cheese fondue are the most popular dishes; I stress “cheese” fondue (also known as Fondue Neuchateloise), because there are other varieties that have nothing to do with cheese, such as Fondue Bourguignonne (chunks of meat), Fondue Chinoise (thin slices of beef or pork cooked in bouillon), or Fondue Bacchus (thin slices of pork, veal or seafood cooked in white wine).  The earliest known recipe for modern cheese fondue comes from my neck of the woods, Zürich, Switzerland, in the year 1699, and we Swiss are wise enough to know that if it works, don’t change it!

 

This is the set we have.

Swiss Cheese Fondue

* You will need a fondue crock set.
Calculate 200 – 300 gr. cheese per person (see note below)

1 fresh clove garlic, whole

Kirsch

White Wine

cornstarch (start off with 1/2 Tbs. & increase as necessary)

A handful of mushrooms (see below)

Mouth-sized chunks of bread of your choice (we usually prefer a “brown” bread)

A variety of pickles (baby corn cobs, cucumbers, onions, garlic, etc.) as condiments

Chilled white wine, or hot tea as beverage (see warning below!)

 

• Typical fondue cheeses are Gruyère, Appenzeller Rezent, or Tilsiter; if you can’t find those, you can substitute hard, sharp–tasting cheeses. Chop them into chunks, then throw them in the crock & melt it on the stove. [If you use gorgonzola, I would use ¼ to ½ gorgi, & ½ to ¾ harder cheeses.]

Take the crock, & rub the insides with either freshly sliced garlic, or a garlic paste; then chop the garlic, & add it to the cheese after it’s melted.

Once the cheese has begun to melt & is stirrable, pour in kirsch, & white wine (not too much, but enough to thin the cheese down).

You’ll need some kind of a sauce binder like cornstarch (that thickens sauces, neutral tasting); stir it in to the cheese well (I first mix a bit into kirsch, to dissolve it well).

At this stage you can add the garlic and mushrooms.

Morel (left), Porcini (right)

• If the mushrooms you’re using are the dried varieties, soften in warm water and then slice into mouth-sized bites.  I use a combination of morel (Morchel) and porcini (Steinpilz) (I’ve put links to Wikipedia articles in case you are unfamiliar with the English or German names). Try to use aromatic mushrooms, and avoid using the bland button mushrooms!

While the cheese is still melting, prepare the rest of the ingredients (pickles, bread chunks, etc.); get it all ready to go, because once the cheese is on the table burner the meal is hectic for the first few minutes, trying to keep the cheese from burning on the bottom (by stirring a chunk of bread in it) and pouring the wine, etc.

I serve fondue with chunks of bread to dip, + side dishes of all kinds of mixed pickles, & chilled white wine.
We also serve one glass / bowl of kirsch, to dip the bread in prior to stirring in the cheese–it adds a nice bite to the bread.

• If you don’t want alcohol, I would still recommend cooking wine in the stove stage; you can serve it with hot black tea. If you serve it with cold non–alcoholic beverages, the cheese tends to clump in the stomach, & can be uncomfortable!

En Guete!

Absolutely Revoltingly Disgusting Quesadilla-cum-Quiche Casserole

Every two weeks, two teenagers (siblings) come over for a visit, dinner, and usually a movie or baking together.  This tradition started back in 2009, and despite their busy schedules they still come!  I’ll enjoy it while I can, because soon they’ll be adults!  They love coming for the good food, relaxed atmosphere, and the fun we have together.  We have an inside joke that when they really like the dinner, they’ll say it’s “absolutely disgusting.”  Their mother almost swallowed her tongue the first time she heard her son say that to me!  This time, he said, “That was an absolutely revoltingly disgusting experiment.  You’ll have to try that again sometime.”  This dish literally takes about 10 minutes to put together, and serves 3-4.

So here’s what I did for such a high compliment:

Quesadilla-cum-Quiche Casserole

6 whole-wheat tortillas

1 small-to-medium onion, finely chopped

~½ – 1 Cup cheese, finely chopped or grated (I used Raclette cheese, but any semi-firm cheese will taste great)

spices of choice, to taste (I used a “Tex-Mex” taste combination of coriander, lemon pepper and chili powder)

~½ – 1 Cup ham, finely chopped

½ can kidney beans

You could also toss in ~½ C. finely chopped fresh mushrooms if you want to expand it.

Mix it all together; if it’s too dry for your taste, stir in a bit of plain yogurt.

Spoon the mixture down the center of each tortilla and wrap them, laying them seam-side-down in a casserole dish.  Once you have the dish full (mine was a 6-tortilla dish, but this is stretchable or reducible), mix the following:

3 eggs, whipped

~1 – 1½ C. milk

A generous squeeze of lemon juice; this combined with the milk makes buttermilk

~150 gr. grated cheese

a generous dash of chives, pepper and salt to taste

Mix well and pour over the tortillas; the liquid should fill the dish.

Sprinkle the top with breadcrumbs for a crunchy top.

Bake at 200°C (400°) for 35-40 minutes, until the crumbs are golden brown.

 

New Book Release: Redemption, the Northing Trilogy, Book 2

Announcing the release of my second book, Redemption!  At the moment both books are available on Kindle, and coming soon in paperback.  If you enjoy 18th century fiction a la Jane Austen or Georgette Heyer, I think you’ll love these two books!  I’ve thoroughly enjoyed writing them; before writing the third book in this series, however, I’ll be finishing two other manuscripts, in vastly different genres.  So keep your eye out for more news!

The reason for the brief interlude between the releases of The Price of Freedom and Redemption is that the second was nearly complete when I released the first one; POF had been done for a few months by the time I actually had time to sit down and go through the publication process for the first time properly; don’t think either book was rushed, as I’m meticulous with the nuts and bolts, and I would like to think quality, though that is up to the reader to assess, not me!

To read a snippet of the book and find out more, please check out my “Publications” page, and let me know what you think – I’d love to hear from you!

Comfortable Potato Stew

For me, this is one of those “comfort” foods – it always reminds me of childhood, and it was one of my favourite meals growing up.  It’s simple, down-home, warm and filling.  Perfect for a chilly evening.

2–4 med.–lg. potatoes; finely diced or grated

1–2 lg. onions, diced

Fry together until brown (or microwave 10 min. in covered bowl) ADD:

Milk

Butter

Spices to taste

Add enough milk to make a stew, a bit of butter (amount to taste), and spices – salt and pepper ought to do it nicely.  As it stews together, if you need to thicken it add a bit of flour or instant potato flakes.  Cook thoroughly. Also, corn or peas can be added.  Serve it with a good cornbread or Bisquick Biscuits, or saltine crackers on the side.

Evaporated vs. Condensed Milk

Okay, I will admit it:  I have a pet peeve with recipes that tell me in no uncertain terms to use either condensed milk or evaporated milk.  Here in Switzerland, there’s only one kind.  Why?  Because there’s only one kind – they are one and the same.  How many think there’s a difference?  A difference so substantial that it has to be explicitely stressed in recipes something to the effect of, “Whatever you do, DON’T substitute X for Y!  It won’t work!”  I’m here to tell you it WILL work, and what the differences are:

Simply put, evaporated milk has gone through a process that removes up to 60% of the water found in the fresh milk.  In other words, it is evaporated… or in other words, condensed.  Condensed milk, on the other hand, has gone through a similar process, but has tons of sugar added.  That’s why it has a long shelf-life.  Tons – that’s why it’s much thicker.  62 calories per tablespoon thicker.  No matter what the USDA or the FDA says, there’s nothing healthy about that.  Period.

The only difference it makes to your recipes is how much additional sugar you’ll have to consciously add to your recipe if you use evaporated milk rather than sweetened condensed milk.  But I’d say that if you have to actually see and handle the amount of sugar you’ll have to compensate for, it will go a long way to helping you reduce calorie intake, sugar intake, and be more aware in general of what you’re feeding your body.

Use whichever you want.  Make your own (there are dozens of recipes online – because I’ve never made it myself I won’t post a recipe that’s not “tried and true”) so that you know exactly how much sugar is in there.  But just don’t get hung up about the terminology – condensed is evaporated is dehydrated.

TomAto, TomAHto.

Just sayin’…

Farmer Bread & Butter Pickles

These pickles are one of my favourites, and I made them a fortnight ago.  The recipe comes from the same Kansas-farmer grandmother as “The Best Cookies You’ll Ever Make,” and they are one of my comfort foods.  There are hundreds of “bread and butter” pickle recipes out there in cyberland, so I’ll describe their taste:  Sweet with a savoury aftertaste and sometimes just the opposite (think sweet & sour sauce), perfect for hamburgers, sandwiches, tuna salad or straight-up!  They’re easy to make, and what I love most about them besides their taste is that fact that I know exactly what’s in them – no chemicals I can’t identify, preservatives that I can’t pronounce, or ingredients that are undeclared.

4 large cucumbers, thinly sliced (not too thinly)

2-4 small onions (shallots), thinly sliced

1 sweet red pepper, diced or thinly sliced

2½ C. vinegar

2½ C. sugar

7 tsp. salt

4 tsp. Mustard seeds

½ tsp. Turmeric

Combine all, bring to boil, stirring  & lathing frequently.  Simmer about 20 minutes (depending on how crunchy you want them).  Pack into clean, hot jars, cleaning the rims of the jars off if necessary, and then seal at once. To Seal, screw the lid on tightly, place in a sink ½ full with hot water, and let soak;  the jars will seal themselves with vacuum within a few minutes.

This recipe makes 5 average-sized (pint, or 1/2-litre) jars.

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The Best Cookies You’ll Ever Make

That may seem like a presumptuous title; after all, everyone thinks their cookies are the best, right?  But I have yet to come across another recipe that evokes the responses this one does:  I made them this week, and after one bite a guest asked if I would give his wife the recipe!  I’ve had people groaning with pleasure after the first bite, and they’re seriously addictive, as light as air, and melt-on-your-tongue delicious.

But what makes these cookies so special to me personally is the story behind them:  My paternal grandmother, Mary Mae Herring-Higbee, was a Kansas farmer’s wife; she crossed the prairies with her parents in a covered wagon around 1902 as a baby, and they settled in the wild prairies of Kansas, where she met my grandfather and set up house.  She lost seven or eight children before my father came along when she was 40, and he remained an only child.  She was a no-nonsense pioneer, a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse in a town so small that if you were driving through it at 10 miles an hour and sneezed, you’d miss it (really).  These were her cookies.  When she was baking these even the air was edible they smelled so good, and I burnt my tongue on several occasions because I couldn’t wait for them to cool to take the first one.

Being the simple farmer’s wife she was however, she figured everyone knew how to make these so she never wrote the recipe down, and took it to the grave with her.  One day as a teenager I determined to figure out the recipe before it faded from my memory, and spent all day trying to find the secret ingredient and combination that makes them melt on the tongue.  I was at the end of my rope, batches of failed (but very good) cookies up to my eyeballs, when in walked my brother, hands stuffed into his pockets.  “Watchyadoin’?” When I told him, he casually tasted a cookie and said, “You don’t have any applesauce in ’em” and walked to his room.  I didn’t know whether to strangle him or hug him.

So without further ado:

Kansan Farmer’s Cookies

1 tsp. baking soda + 2 Tbs. hot water; disolve soda in water

1 tsp. baking powder

1 C. melted butter (or oil of choice)

¾ C. brown sugar

¾ C. white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. each of vanilla & almond extracts

2 C. + flour*

1 C. raisins (light or dark)*

~1 C. chocolate chips*

3/4 can (average size) apple sauce – should be added until it lightens the dough colour  & texture; not drippy, but light and viscous.

Drop onto a baking sheet by the spoonful, far enough apart (they will spread a bit while baking).  Bake @ 190°C for 10 minutes, or until glazed light brown.  While they’re still hot remove to a cooling rack with a spatula that’s large enough for the cookie – they’re especially soft while warm.

Makes 2 1/2 dozen palm-sized cookies.

* If you toss the raisins and chocolate chips in the flour before adding to the liquid ingredients, it prevents them from sinking to the bottom during the baking process.

Swiss Cholera – Oberwalliser Lauchkuchen (Valais Leek Pie)

This traditional Swiss recipe got its dubious name most likely during the cholera epidemics of the early 19th century; unwilling to leave the house, they used what they had on hand, packing it into a pie and baking it.  An educated guess is that, especially up in the Alps where technology was slow to come and even slower to be accepted, people were baking these either in their stone or clay bread ovens.  The apples add a nice contrast to the leeks and ham, and a good cheese makes all the difference in the world!  Raclette cheese is recommended for the reason that it’s quite a creamy melting cheese, but any good-quality cheese will work as well – Appenzeller, Gruyere, Emmentaler, etc.

Swiss Cholera

1 large onion, finely diced

300 gr. Leeks (3-4 stalks), halved lengthwise and ringed

60 gr. Ham, finely chopped

Nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste

250 gr. (6-8 med.) potatoes, boiled, chopped

2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped

150 Raclette cheese, or any good cheese, grated or diced

butter and flour for the baking form

500 gr. Pie crust dough (enough for a bottom and top crust)

1 egg yolk for brushing the top dough

Traditional Method:

Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F) Prepare the vegetables.  Saute the ham, adding spices to taste, then add the onion and leek, then add the chopped potatoes and apples; stir well, remove from heat.  Just before pouring the mixture into the prepared bottom crust, mix the grated cheese into the pan well.

Butter and flour your chosen baking form (round, or casserole), and then lay the bottom crust in.  Pour in the mixture, spreading out and topping with the top crust.  Pinch the edges together, slice away any extra dough, and puncture the top dough with a knife or fork to allow steam to escape.  Brush with the egg yolk, and bake for ~35-45 minutes.

My Method:

Preheat the oven.  Instead of sauteeing the vegetables before baking, I prepare the vegetables as described in the ingredients list, then toss them together with the grated cheese and spices before pouring it all into the prepared bottom crust.  I add a wee bit of milk, but it’s not really necessary.  Top with the top crust, pinch it together and trim away the extra dough, then bake as above.  In the boiling of the potatoes, I also added a few carrots to add a bit of colour; I boiled them with the potatoes, and chopped them both to large bite-sized bits once they were cool enough to handle.

En Guete!

Prep:  30 minutes  /  Bake:  45 minutes  /  Total:  75 minutes

Sweet and Sour Sauce (just like they make in Chinese restaurants)

Have the authentic taste of a Chinese restaurant sauce in your own home!

Several years ago I was preparing to cater for a large group, and I decided on Chinese.  As any lover of Chinese cuisine can tell you, spring rolls want sweet and sour sauce; and I needed it in a large quantity, on a limited budget.  I searched for this recipe online (it was before the days of the ubiquitous search engine Google); I typed in the title of this post, and came up with several that seemed very close.  A bit of experimentation led to the following recipe, and I can promise you, you won’t be able to tell the difference between this and the mix you get in the restaurant!

It’s important to use rice vinegar and tapioca starch, both of which can be found in any decent asian shop worth its salt.

 

Sweet & Sour Sauce

2/3 C. rice vinegar

2 C. water

4 Tbs. tapioca starch

1½ C. sugar

140 gr. tomato paste

Dissolve starch in ½ C. of the water.  Combine all other ingredients in a saucepan, whisk while bringing to a boil.  Slowly stir in the starch mixture.  Continue stirring until the sauce thickens & the colour becomes a bit “transparent”. Can be jarred &  refrigerated up to 2 weeks.

Adjust sugar / vinegar to taste, gradually.