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Recipe: Vegetable curry with lime rice

Published by Elena

At this time of year, I like nothing better than a full-flavored curry to wake up my taste buds after months of more tame seasonal fare. My husband recently cooked up this dish based on one he found in the January 2017 issue of Delicious magazine. As usual, he made some test batches till he got it just to his (our) liking, which usually means devising ways to add more flavor and richness, usually by means of a few substitutions and a little more of “this and that”.

Recipe: From tree to table — Tarte Tatin made with juicy, sweet, self-picked Vaudois Gala apples

Published by Elena

Whether you choose to handpick your apples straight off the branch or from the grocer’s shelf, harvest time is the moment to indulge in your favorite apple recipes. For me, that’s a deep and delicious tarte tatin made with local Vaudois Gala apples. Typically, Galas are recommended for eating not cooking because they’re ultra-sweet and juicy. But given that I enjoy the hot caramelised apple syrup as much as the fruit and because Galas hold their shape nicely when cooked, they suit me just fine. I also use brown sugar instead of the usually recommended white (some recipes call for plain white sugar and others for caster) and I add a dash of cinnamon. While some chefs use a heavy-based, oven-proof pan both to cook their apples on the stove and then bake them in the oven (which must be very handy) I first cook the apples in a big Le Creuset enamel pot and then carefully transfer them to a tin-lined, copper tarte tatin mould (diameter 24 cm, height 5cm) that I picked up in London some years back. It’s a deep mould so I can …

Quick, easy, spicy: tomato & cannellini bean soup with harissa & honey

Published by Elena

A few years ago I subscribed to delicious. magazine as a birthday gift for my husband, who loves to cook (and is very good at it, too). It’s turned out to be one of our best and reasonably priced “investments”. We always find at least two or three recipes that we have to try out within days of the new issue arriving in our mailbox. One vegetarian recipe from the January issue that I enjoy making is tomato and bean soup with harissa and honey. I usually have most of the ingredients here at home in my pantry (a converted nuclear bomb shelter. You didn’t know that about Switzerland did you? That for decades newly built houses needed to include a bomb shelter in their basements…perfect for storing tinned goods, wine, and often fresh foods (other than in summertime)). The harissa paste gives the soup a good little kick. It’s filling but not too heavy so it’s ideal for winter but also autumn and spring as well when you don’t need the added bulk of cream or a grain, …

Recipe favourite: roast chicken with bacon, shallots, chili & thyme

Published by Elena

This wonderfully tasty and quick-to-make meal is a great fall-back recipe for yourself, family or friends that is sure to please everyone who tucks into it. Based on a recipe by Australian restaurateur Bill Granger from the March 2012 issue of UK Delicious Magazine, it has been adapted by mio marito to suit his flamboyent taste buds and to take advantage of the wonderful herbs that fluorished in our garden despite the admittedly lightweight winter we had this year. The original recipe calls for a whole chicken to be cut up into eight pieces, but my resident masterchef de-bones the bird, adds far more herbs and spices as well as mushrooms and slivers of sun-dried tomatoes. An alternative to de-boning and entire chicken is to use 1kg of a cut called Supreme de Poulet (chicken breast and shoulder) that you might have to pre-order at the counter if you don’t find it already pre-packaged. Be sure to keep the skin on the pieces as this adds flavor to the dish. We’ve also taken to replacing chicken with pintade (guinea fowl), …

Creamy Bündner Gerstensuppe will keep you warm on cold winter nights

Published by Elena

One of my favourite Swiss cookbooks, not only for the delicious and largely easy-to-make recipes, but also for its beautiful photographs of Swiss scenes, landscapes and traditional architecture (it would qualify as a lovely coffee table book) is Manuela Darling-Gansser’s book Winter in the Alps, Food by the Fireside. At this time of year I often make my slightly altered version of her Bünder Gerstensuppe when a hearty bowl of soup is just what I need to warm myself up on chilly days or evenings. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I do. Bündner Gerstensuppe (Pearl Barley Soup) Serves 4 to 6 people Ingredients: 1 onion finely chopped 2 trimmed leeks, washed & finely chopped 2 medium carrots, finely diced 2 celery stalks, finely diced 1/2 small celeriac, peeled and finely diced 2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced (I like “Celtiane” potatoes from Co-Op) 1 fresh bay leaf 150g (5oz) smoked speck or bacon, diced (I prefer Co-Op Natura Farm speck, rind removed) 2 litres (3 pints / 8fl oz) chicken or vegetable stock 100g (3.5 oz) pearl …

Chilly evenings are just right for a Vacherin Mont-d’Or mini fondue

Published by Elena

On cold, damp evenings such as we’re having now, one of my winter favourites, baked Vacherin Mon-d’Or served as a luscious mini fondue, makes for a warm, flavourful meal that’s great to share with family and friends (individual and double-sized portions are sold at most stockists)–or as a cosy meal à deux–along with some crisp Swiss white wine. Here’s a little information about this wonderful, seasonal cheese that literally needs to be scooped up during its limited availability in the shops: Vacherin Mont-d’Or AOC is made from September to April by a small group of dedicated Swiss affineurs in the Jura Mountains. It’s one of only six Swiss cheeses to carry the prestigious certified label of origin (AOC) awarded by Swiss PDO-PGI Association. To merit this certification, each stage of production must take place within the region of origin thus guaranteeing its distinct character and unmistakable identity. The cheese comes courtesy of cows brought down from high pasture to spend the cold winter months in stables, meaning it’s not available for very long. Like all good things that too …