Vegan Retake on Potatoes with Cheese 🌱

Almost one and a half years ago, I shared a Swiss recipe featuring jacket potatoes and cheese with you. Today, I’m presenting a vegan retake on this culinary highlight from my adopted country. To make it feel more modern, I added a touch of blue butterfly pea flower. What do you think about that? Blue…

Vegan Roasted Cauliflower with Buckwheat Salad and Butter Bean Purée 🌱

In my last post, I introduced you to Sofia‘s vegan cookbook “Little Vegan Artisan” and presented my take on a recipe of hers. Today, I’ll continue the exciting journey through her book and share another of her dishes with you. Well, my version thereof to be more precise. Roasted cauliflower: Divide the cauliflower into bouquets….

Vegan Vol-au-Vent with Creamy Mushrooms 🌱

It’s Christmas time all over the world, and Christmas here at home. And Thursday. Which means another episode of Swiss Food Discovery. Today, I have the honor to present a dish my in-laws served at Christmas for many years. Well, my vegan version thereof, obviously. Så riktig god jul ✨ Feliz natal ✨ Shenoraavor Nor…

Vegan Rispor 🌱

Today, I’m super excited to be cooking for Across Kitchen Lines together with Tarun Sehgal. I’ve prepared a very traditional Swiss dish from the canton of Uri featuring rice and leek. As always, I veganized it and plated it à la Heidi. Risotto: Toast Riso Venere. Add an equal amount of finely chopped leek and…

Vegan Quince Curry 🌱

Remember my last post featuring quince and my promise to present something savory? Well, those weren’t empty words: Today, I’ll share one of my all time favorite curries with you. An aromatic quince curry with roasted cauliflower, sweet red Jasmine rice and a mellow Daal. How do you like your quince – sweet or savory?…

Vegan Roasted Cauliflower with Scrambled Tofu 🌱

Plating with flowers is dear passion of mine. I have a small garden, where I cultivate my own ecological edible flowers. During winter, when growth is sparse, I have to rely on alternative decorative items. A veggie also qualifying as a flower is the perfect replacement. Roasted cauliflower: Separate cauliflower into small bouquets. I used…

Potato • Carrot • Beetroot • Black salsify • Oatmeal • Sunflower seed 🌱

Time for another challenge hosted by Foodblogs Schweiz. You know the drill: Create a dish featuring at least two of the ingredients of the predefined basket. This month, the basket contained potatoes, carrots, beetroots, black salsify, oatmeal and sunflower seeds. Once again, I’ve used all ingredients. I went for a calm light yellow tone with…

Parsnip • Kale • Sweet potato • Celeriac • Walnut • Apple 🌱

Today, I’m proud to present my dish for the January challenge hosted by Foodblogs Schweiz. This month’s basket contains parsnip, kale, sweet potato, celeriac, walnut and apple. I went all in and created a plant-based feast. Along the journey, I got acquainted with nutritional yeast and was totally blown away. What a wonderful umami flavor!…

Puff pastry wrapped pork tenderloin (Filet im Teig) 🇨🇭

Filet im Teig – literally translating into tenderloin in dough – is the Swiss Beef Wellington. Fun fact: Beef Wellington is said to have been President Nixon’s favorite meal. But that’s beside the point. There’s a million of filling varieties for the Swiss recipe. With mushroom. Mustard. Air-dried ham. Sausage meat. Sun-dried tomatoes. Herbs. The…

Wine braised beef (Suure Mocke)🇨🇭

Suure Mocke – literally a sour chunk – is the ultimate feast meal in my home canton. Wine braised beef is technically speaking a rather simple dish. However, it’s quite time-consuming. Five days of brining and four hours of braising. Fortunately, in terms of taste, it’s well worthwhile. Brine 1.2 kg beef clod in 1…

Swiss egg pasta (Knöpfli or Spätzli)🇨🇭

For this week’s Swiss Food Discovery project, I’ve prepared shaped pasta typical to the Swiss cuisine. In Swiss German, the pasta is called Knöpfli translating into small buttons or Spätzli in reference to the diminutive form of sparrow. Prepare them pure or season them with spinach, pumpkin or hazelnut. Serve them as is or butter-fried –…

Grape • Pumpkin • Chanterelle • Rice 💚

Playing with colors – that’s what this dish is all about. And autumn flavors. Prepare the risotto by sautéing chopped shallot, garlic and Gioiello rice is some olive oil. Taste with salt and add some red wine. Allow the rice to absorb and, little by little, add hot water. Once cooked, add black aceto balsamico,…

Wild game

Did I tell you that I bought a deer from a befriended hunter? As in an entire animal. 9 kg meat. This is one of the dishes I created featuring wild game: Saddle of venison with king oyster mushroom topped with boar salami, deep-fried pumpkin brunoise and poached Brussels sprouts next to caramelized chestnut purée…

Corn quartet 🌱

Corn is a super versatile produce available throughout the year in different forms: fresh, canned, dried. In Switzerland, corn is in season right now and I couldn’t resist creating a dish around these different forms of corn. Charred fresh mini corncobs. Canned sweet corn in a pungent salsa. Tangy chili popcorns. And last but not…

Ristotto venere with golden oyster mushroom and Syrian purple carrots

“The best risotto I’ve ever had” according to my 6-year-old. No further introduction necessary. Risotto: Fry white onion and riso venere in olive oil. Add salt, garlic and some elderflower and apple cider vinegar and allow to absorb. Little by little, add hot water always letting the rice absorb all the water before adding more….

Rotmos med fläsklägg

Peasant food. One-pot meal. Comfort food. Root mash with ham hock. A traditional Swedish dish and quite a common meal in the Swedish-speaking part of Finland, as well. We used to serve it at the Viking Centre, where I worked during my teen summers. For me, this dish is a piece of home, really. Peel…

Spaghetti carbonara

What’s your favorite pasta dish? I have two. And spaghetti carbonara is definitely one of them. It’s wonderfully creamy, yet incredibly light. That’s the eggs. Flavorful, yet mild. That’s the pancetta and the Parmesan cheese combined with the pasta. That’s it. No cream. No parsley. No bells and whistles. Well. Black pepper, obviously. Otherwise, it…

Pork • Parsley root • Parsley • Pimenta

Remember my Cinque Pi? This is my Quattro Pi (with some additional ingredients). Turn pork shanks (also know as ham hocks or pork knuckles) in wheat flour and roast them in olive oil. Taste with salt and black pepper. Add quartered onions as well as pimenta (allspice) and rosemary. Braise in white wine until the…

Sous vide beef tenderloin with roasted veggies

Beef tenderloin with roasted veggies and a rich red wine sauce is as classic as a dish can get. And that not without reason: In all its simplicity, it’s utterly delicious. Meat: Sear an entire beef tenderloin in olive oil seasoned with rosemary and garlic. Transfer the meat and herbs into a bag, vacuum seal…

Duck and scallops accompanied by beetroot and orange

Sous vide duck a l’orange with pan seared scallops – doesn’t that sound scrumptious? It’s a surf and turf marriage made in heaven. Sous vide duck: Score a diamond pattern through the fat of the duck breast with a sharp knife. Be careful not to score the meat. Starting with the fat side down, pan…

Lamb sirloin • Barley • Pomegranate • Mint

A sous-vide stick – what a game changer! Precise temperatures, impeccable textures, foolproof. Never has cooking been easier. And the outcome more perfect. Start with the meat. Sear lamb sirloin in oil and butter seasoned with garlic and rosemary. Season the meat with salt and black pepper. Transfer the meat and the herbs to a…

Bœuf bourguignon

Brown bistro food or “certainly one of the most delicious beef dishes concocted by man” to quote the French cuisine guru Julia Child. That’s bœuf bourguignon. Even though visually not the most appealing dish there is, the strong flavors enhanced by slow cooking make this red wine braised beef stew perfect for Sunday feast. For…

Where the wild things are

On this plate – that’s where the wild things are. Ten of them to be more precise. And I’m quite sure, this is the supper Max enjoyed after returning home from his imaginative adventures. Deer fillet Deer escalope Wild boar entrecôte Wild boar salami chips Malaga morels Steamed Brussels sprouts Roasted pumpkin Mashed purple potatoes…

Veal • Root vegetables • Bramata • Parsley

Ossobuco means comfort food for me (actually, it means “bone with a hole” in Italian, referring to the marrow hole in the cross-cut shank, but that’s totally beside the point). My mother used to cook it back home and I’ve continued that tradition. It’s a dish full of flavors and amazing meat just melting in…