A few veggies on the side

This is a “what you have” plate.  Some of the home peeled beans, spinach, chard, carrots, borage, dandelions…….  Just cook them in a little of that frozen broth you have left over from the winter soup season.

Posted in General Comments | Leave a comment

Rosti

If you “Google” for these, you will probably get a hundred different recipes.  In Northern Europe you can find four or five kinds in the smallest markets.

Searching for the origin, we came up with Switzerland, and a very simple recipe.  You can make them small like hamburgers, or huge, like this one that had to be cut and served like pie.

The recipe:  Shredded potato, cooked in lard with salt and pepper.  The “trick” is to shape the pile of raw potatoes in the pan with your spatula, and use a low fire.  When you can see that they are brown on one side, turn it over and do the other side.  That’s it.

We published one Alsatian recipe a couple of years ago.  That one has quite a few ingredients and is fried in deep fat.  We like this plain one better.

Posted in General Comments | Tagged | Leave a comment

Fast Pasta

Standing over a hot stove isn’t that much fun in Summer.  If you can find fresh pasta in your favorite supermarket, this reduces time to a minimum. (We found it in the dairy products.)

Sautee’ cherry tomatoes, onion, some olives, olive oil, and your favorite spices. Then add a cup or so of water and stir in the pasta. It only takes a few minutes to cook and you only use one pan. :-)

Posted in What's For Lunch? | Tagged | Leave a comment

Summer Salad

This is just a tomato and cucumber salad with vinegar and oil.  The flowers are from borage, an herb that we sometimes use in the minestrone.

Posted in What's For Lunch? | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Yellow Zuchinne

You can cook the yellow variety alone, but they have a tendency to be bitter.  Shrimp, peas, and mushrooms make that much less noticeable.  The rice is not wild rice, though you could use that if you precook it.  The black rice is a normal variety that just happens to be black and requires the same cooking time as white rice.

Posted in What's For Lunch? | Tagged | Leave a comment

Just Beans

At this time of year we can buy these beans in the pod and shell them out at home.  For some reason, they seem to taste better  that way.

Posted in What's For Lunch? | Tagged | Leave a comment

Wurzelbrot

This is supposed to be of Swiss origin. It’s an easy bread to make, but you do need to follow the recipe.

Click here for the recipe

Posted in What's For Lunch? | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Got Artichokes?

If you had some of these nice ones from the Mediterranean

You could cut them up and leave them in some water with a little vinegar.

Then sautee’ them with some shrimp.

Throw in some noodles.

:-D

Posted in What's For Lunch? | Leave a comment

Holiday Eating

Lentils

salad

Rice

salad

Pasta al forno

Apple strudel

Pumpkin risotto

Salad

Spinache and tomatoes

Swiss chard and tomatoes

Pasta and spinach

Artichokes

Posted in What's For Lunch? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Wirsing

Wirsing is what you look for in a German store. Savoy cabbage in English, or Cavolo Capuccio in Italian. A good vegetable whatever you call it.

wirsing

Here we turned it into cabbage rolls.
You just peel off some leaves in one piece. Cut out the main rib with a knife, and blanch for a minute. You can then roll them up with some sort of meat or vegetable mixture. (In the same manner as the Dolmathakia.)
These were filled with chopped meat and rice. Pour in a cup or two of broth, and into the oven.
It takes an hour or so. The Gruyere was added in the last ten minutes.

rolla

Posted in What's For Lunch? | Leave a comment