Swiss favorites

Serves 4

What you need  

• 600 g (1.3 pounds or 17 cups) of  white bread, cubed
• 1 clove of garlic
• 400 g (3 ½ cups) Gruyère cheese, ground
• 400 g (3 ½ cups) Vacherin cheese, ground 
• 3 dl (1 ½ cup ) white wine
• 5 cl (3 ½ tblsp) kirsch
• 5.5 g (2 tsps) of corn flour
• ground pepper and nutmeg to taste
• A fondue set (pot, burner and forks)

How to make it  

1. Cut the bread into small cubes.
2. Split the clove of garlic in two and rub the inside of the fondue pot.
3. Add the cheese and the wine and cook them on the stove over medium-high heat, being careful to constantly stir the mixture.
4. Add the kirsch and the corn flour, and keep stirring. 
5. Simmer for a  while, ensuring it does not overheat. 
6. Add pepper and nutmeg, then remove from the stove.
7. Bring the fondue pot to the table, placing it  over the burner.
8. Adjust the heat in order to ensure that the cheese remains at a constant temperature. 
9. Using a fondue fork, grab a small piece of bread, gently dip in the cheese mixture 
10. Enjoy! 
11. 
    

Helpful Tips  

• You may vary the mixture of cheese depending on your taste and preference. - Vacherin cheese may be substituted with Appenzeller or French Comte; Gruyère with Emmentaler (commonly known as Swiss cheese in the US)
• You may use small steamed potatoes instead of or together with bread.
• Some people prefer the bread a little crispy, so you may want to cut it a few hours before you preparing the fondue.
• Avoid overheating during cooking, as the mixture tends to spill out of the pot if it gets too hot !

Recipe courtesy of about.ch

The amount of ingredients can be adapted according to  the desired servings

What you need  

• 150–200g (5-7 oz) raclette cheese, per person, sliced into 8mm slices
• Small potatoes, boiled (about 4 to 6 per person)
• Strips off bacon
• Beef fillet, sliced thickly
• Chipolata sausages, or other small pork sausages
• Zucchini sliced thickly
• Bell peppers, thickly sliced
• Pickled baby corn
• Pickles(pickled baby cucumbers)
• Barbecue sauce or ketchup for meat ad sausages
• A raclette grill

How to make it     

1. If necessary, cut the raclette cheese to fit the couples or small trays under the raclette grill.
2.  Turn the raclette grill on medium-high heat.
3. If you are using bacon, place the bacon slices onto the grill plate and cook until your liking.
4. Use the bacon fat to cook the other ingredients.
5. f you are not using bacon, simply brush the grill plate with some oil or butter.
6. Place some meat and vegetables on the hot grill plate.
7. While the meat and vegetables are cooking on the grill plate, place a slice of raclette cheese into the coupelles or small trays, and place them under the heating element
8. The melted raclette cheese is usually served over the warm potatoes on your plate, which you should slice just before adding the cheese. 
9. It is also common to place the melted cheese over the cooked vegetables. Some people even put slices of potatoes into the coupelles  so that the cheese melts directly on top.  Do as you please!
10. Be careful to not overcook the meat on the grill plate.

Helpful Tips  

• In place of raclette cheese, you can also use semi-soft alpine cheeses like French Morbier or even Italian fontina.
• Instead of grilling meat and sausages, it is also traditional to serve a plate of charcuterie or cold cuts, such as salame, ham, and other deli meats.
• If you prefer a vegetarian meal, you can grill only vegetables
• Any leftover raclette cheese is wonderful for toasting on bread, over a grill.
• Ultimately, it is up to you what meat and vegetables you wish to serve with raclette. So have fun with it!

Recipe courtesy of Eat, Little Bird

What you need

• 40ml (3 tblsp olive oil, or 45g (3 tblsp)  of butter,divided
• 6 green onions (scallions) roots trimmed, sliced
• 550g (1 ½ lbs) russet or Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and grated
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

How to make it  

1. Trim and slice green onions, separating 1 tablespoon of greens for garnish.
2. Heat a non-stick pan on med-high heat.
3. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil (or butter, if preferred).
4. When the pan is hot, add all the onions except reserved garnish.
5. Cook for five minutes, stirring frequently.
6. Place onions into large bowl.
7. Peel, then coaresly grate potatoes using a food processor or box grater.
8. Squeeze potatoes between paper towels to remove excess moisture (you may have to do this 2-3 times)
9. Add potatoes to the bowl with  the onions,
10. Stir, add the sea salt and pepper, stir again
11. Reheat the pan on medium heat, adding more olive oil/butter butter,  coating entire bottom of pan. 
12. When the pan and oil /butter are very hot (but not smoking) add the potato mixture, use a spatula to form into a nice disc, pressing on the top to flatten.
13. Cook for ten minutes, covered with lid or foil, and rotating every few minutes to avoid hot spots.
14. Remove lid/foil and cook for additional 4-5 more minutes or until rösti is nice and golden on bottom.
15. Carefully work a spatula under the edges to loosen the rösti, then place a plate over the pan and using oven mitts carefully turn the pan over so the rösti ends up on the plate. 
16. If needed, add a little more olive oil/butter to the pan and slide the rösti cooked side up back into pan
17. Cook, covered for five more minutes, then uncover and cook for additional five  minutes or until the second side is golden brown. 
18. Add more sea salt and pepper if preferred.
19. Garnish with remaining onions and serve!

Recipe adapted from The Organic Kitchen

Serves 4

What you need 

• 500  g (1 lb) fresh button mushrooms,  thinly sliced
• The juice of ½ lemon
• 400 g (1.3 lbs) veal filet,  thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 onion, finally chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tblsp cornflour 
• 125ml  ( ½ cup) white wine
• 1 to 2 dl (½ cup to 1 cup) water
• 250ml  (1 cup)  of heavy cream
• 125ml (½ cup) chicken or beef stock
• Sea salt (to taste)
• Freshly ground pepper and paprika (to taste)
• Parsley, finely chopped (for sprinkling on top)

How to make it

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a large frying pan.
2. Sauté the veal in batches for a few minutes until they are just cooked.
3. Rremove the meat to a bowl and set aside.
4. Add the remaining butter to the pan and cook the mushrooms, onion and garlic until they have softened.
5. Add the white wine and let it bubble away for about 1 minute.
6. In a small jug or bowl, mix together the double cream, stock, and cornflour.  
7. Add this liquid to the pan and let everything simmer gently for a few minutes.
8. Taste for seasoning.
9. If the sauce is too thin, add more cornflour by making a slurry – simply dissolve about 1 tablespoon of cornflour  in a small bowl with 1 tablespoon of water. Pour this slowly into the pan and stir until you have the right consistency.
10. If the sauce is too thick, you can thin the sauce with some boiling water or cream.
11. Return the meat to the pan and stir it through the sauce for about 1 minute to warm through.
12. Sprinkle with parsley before serving. 

Helpful Tips :

• This dish is usually served with "Rösti", but rice or pasta works great as well.
• This dish is traditionally made with veal,  but you can use pork or chicken if you prefer.

Recipe adapted from Eat, Little Bird

Serves 2

What you need:·   

• 2  - 115g (4-oz.) boneless pork cutlets, pounded as thin as possible 
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 55g (2 oz.)deli ham, thinly sliced
• 55g (2 oz.) Emmentaler cheese (known in the US as Swiss cheese), thinly sliced
• 45g (1⁄3 cup) flour
• 1 egg, beaten
• 55g (1⁄2 cup)  bread crumbs
• 250ml (1 cup )canola oil
• 60g (3 tbsp.)unsalted butter
• Lemon wedges, for serving

How to make it:

1. Season the cutlets with salt and pepper. 
2. Place ham and cheese on one cutlet, leaving approximately 1 cm ( ½ inch) border along the edge
3. Place the other cutlet on top; set aside. 
4. Place flour, egg, and bread crumbs in three separate shallow bowls. 
5. Dredge  thestuffed cutlet first in flour, coat in egg, then into the bread crumbs. 
6. Heat the oil and butter in a 30cm (12-inch) skillet over medium heat. 
7. Fry, flipping once, until golden brown and crisp, about 15 minutes. 
8. Remove the heat and rest over absorbing paper for a few minutes.
9. Sprinkle some salt on top.
10. Serve with lemon wedges.

Helpful tips:

• Although in Switzerland this dish is traditionally made with pork, you can substitute with chicken or turkey breast.
• You can also substitute the ham with prosciutto cotto or mortadella, if preferred.

What you need :   

• 750 g (3  ¼ cups) plums or apricots
• 20g (1/4 cup)
• Almonds or hazelnuts, ground
•  100 ml (1/2 cup)  milk
• 1 egg
•  50g (4 tbsp) sugar
•  100ml (1/2 cup)  whipping cream
•  1 tsp cornflour 
•  200g (1¼ cups) flour
•  0.5 tsp salt
•  75 g (5 tbsp)  butter, cut into small pieces
•  100ml (1/2 cup) water
•  25cm Ø (10-inch) round Pie pan

How to make it :

1. Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. 
2. Add the butter and rub by hand into an evenly crumbly mass.  You can also place the flour and butter in a food processor and mix until evenly combined.
3. Pour in water, combine to form a soft, smooth dough, do not knead. 
4. Press the dough flat, cover with plastic wrap and chill for approx. 30 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 220C (390F) degrees.
6. On a floured surface, roll out the dough into a round shape (approx. 33 cm Ø) and gently place it in the pie pan.
7. Cut any excess dough around the edges of necessary.
8. Prick the dough base tightly with a fork.
9. Spread the almonds/hazelnuts on the pastry base. 
10. Slice the apricots or plums (or any other preferred fruit), remove the core.
11. Place the  fruit slices over the almonds/hazelnuts (round side down), sprinkle with sugar on top.
12. Mix together the milk, cream, egg, cornflour, and sugar then pour in between the fruit slices.
13. Bake for approx. 40 minutes