Other Cook da Books dinners

Burkhard's Cook da Books dinner

Char on Sauerkraut with Herb Dumplings

Lemon Tarte

Chaja's Cook da Books dinner

Osso Bucco with creamy spinach, courgettes and carrots

- the meal that converted me back to bone marrow

Flourless chocolate cake with clotted cream and the first strawberries of the year

Dinner for Cook da Books

Last December it was my turn to cook dinner for my book and cooking club 'Cook da Books'. We had read and were going to discuss a book called 'We have always lived in the castle' by Shirley Jackson. The story is about two sisters and an uncle living together in a big house outcast by their village. The rest of the family is dead. They were killed with arsenic mixed into the sugar on the berries that were the dessert of a big Sunday roast lunch.
I based the dinner menu on the Sunday roast lunch menu from the book. In the book it's a Spring menu. I adapted it to Christmas time.

The Menu

 

A Deadly Dinner

Prosecco with Cranberry

Kale Crisps

Salad with Herbs

Roast Lamb Shoulder

Crushed New Potatoes and  Vegetables

Minty Mushy Peas

Eton Mess with Blackberries and a Pinch of Arsenic

 Kale Chips

Kale is my new favourite winter  vegetable, whether blanched and sauteed with onion, olive oil, lemon juice and salt or, like in this recipe, baked in the oven until crispy. A very simple way to create a wonderful snack. I got the recipe on a blog called Roost, which I highly recommend for healthy recipes: http://www.roostblog.com/roost/tuscan-kale-chips.html

Salad with Herbs

A simple salad with any herbs I can find and finely sliced radishes. I like flat leaf parsley, chives, coriander and chervil. For the dressing I use olive oil, salt, pepper and either lemon juice or white wine herb vinegar.

Roast Lamb Shoulder

Crusched New Potatoes and  Vegetables

Minty Mushy Peas

For the lamb shoulder  I used a Jamie Oliver recipe, which I will definitely cook many times in future! It is so simple and so delicious! It's easily prepared in advance and needs little attention while in the oven so it's perfect for when you have people coming round for dinner: www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/lamb-recipes/incredible-roasted-shoulder-of-lamb-with

For the vegetables I used lots of different coloured carrots - white, orange, dark red, almost purplish, some orange with a purple boarder.

Eton Mess with Blackberries and a Pinch of Arsenic

For the Eton Mess I made a Pavlova rather than smaller meringues. I love it when there's a lot of gooey meringue in the Eton Mess. 

For the berries I had to use frozen ones. Along side the Eton Mess I served a bowel of sugar. With a pinch of Arsenic of course!


As I always I forget to take pictures of the finished food and the dinner itself. Here a couple of shots including the aftermath...

Spring is in the air...

... and on my plate.
Today I passed by the market in the Viadukt and was very happy to see all the wonderful spring vegetables at the stall of Käsers Schloss. I couldn't resist and bought all these wonderful green things for dinner.

Artichokes, barba di frate, fresh peas, watercress, mint, parsley and chervil

www.kaesers-schloss.ch

www.im-viadukt.ch

Another perfect breakfast with Katschi

Crispy bacon, scrambled eggs with lots of herbs, barba di frate with olive oil, toast, ricotta with lemon juice and olive oil, sun dried tomatoes, pickled courgettes, olives....

...followed by a walk through Zurich on a perfect, sunny Sunday!

Home-made pizza / iphone app

A friend came round to my place recently for a TV dinner, to watch a TV program I cannot admit to watching. Lets say it was a documentary about something really important, deep and meaningful... We made pizza using a Jamie Oliver recipe from his iphone app with the imaginative name 'Jamie's Recipes'. It's a useful app with many easy to follow meal ideas. I often stand in the supermarket wondering what to cook for dinner and I use this app to get ideas. Just search for something you feel like eating and it gives you list of options. All necessary ingredients are automatically added to a shopping list, you can set it to either 2 or 4 people and the amounts are adjusted accordingly. Recipes are listed according to themes, i.e. light meals, 20 minute meals, comfort food, breakfast, date dishes...

http://www.jamieoliver.com/apps/

Post Opening Dinner at the Gallery

You blog, I read

Here are some blogs I read regularly - some about food, others about art, cinema or furniture...

Food is good
http://sebastianroach.blogspot.com

The realpickygourmet's Weblog
http://therealpickygourmet.com

101 Cookbooks
http://www.101cookbooks.com

Sous Style
http://sousstyle.com

L'art J'aime pas
http://ketuta.blogspot.com

Kino Madeleine
http://kinomadeleine.blogspot.com

Sanctuary
http://houseofbliss.blogspot.com

The Selby
http://www.theselby.com

A less perfect lunch

Last week I walked up to Alpenrösli in Klosters with a friend of mine to have lunch on their terrace and also to see what the new owners had done with the place. I barely recognised the it: terrace, restaurant, hotel rooms - everything has been completely redone. Unfortunately any charm the place had is gone. It now looks like a typical mountain restaurant next to the skiing station, quite sterile and cold. The furniture on the terrace does not invite to stay and enjoy the view, although people come to Alpenrösli to do exactly that.
The day we were there was glorious and sunny but extremely cold. We asked for woolly blankets to cover our legs and were told that they didn't have any. Blankets would be a small investment for a restaurant that is famous for its terrace and spectacular views - people want to sit outside even in winter!

I heard from a few sides that dinner at Alpenrösli is very good. The lunch menu however was quite uninspired and featured the usual Bündnergerstensuppe, Bündnerplatte etc., but the food was well prepared and tasted good.

Käseschnitte with fried egg and Walliser Wurst with Rösti

I will continue going to Alpenrösli - the view over Klosters and the surrounding mountains remains unchanged, but it's not what it used to be.

www.alpenroesli-klosters.ch

Another perfect lunch in Klosters

 

- Nüsslisalat mit Speck und Ei - Lambs Lettuce with Bacon and Egg -

- Ein Dutzend Schnecken mit Kräutern und Knoblauch - A Dozen Snails with Herbs and Garlic -

Restaurant Wynegg

Landstrasse 205

7250 Klosters

+41 81 422 13 40

Dinner for two friends using three favorite ingredients...

... artichoke, trout and barba di frate.

Last week two friends came by to help me hang some art works in my flat. I cooked us some dinner with lovely produce I bought at the market.

- Barba di Frate: Blanch in boiling water for a couple of minutes. Dress with lemon juice, good olive oil, salt and pepper.
- Artichokes: Boil in water until stem can easily be pierced with sharp knife. Make a vinaigrette using mustard, salt, pepper, lemon zest, lemon juice, lots of mixed, chopped herbs, white wine vinegar and good olive. It's easiest to put all components in a container with a lid and shake.

- Trout: Rinse the trout and pat dry. Lightly flour both sides and stuff inside with herbs. I used flat leaf parsley, dill and chervil. Fry in lots of butter, approx. 5 min each side. I added lots of sage to the pan and fried it until crispy.

Voilà dinner is served.

Should you be in Klosters...

... go to Walserhof for lunch.
The restaurant is known to be the only one in the village that ever holds Michelin stars, currently one for Chef Armin Amrein. The adjacent hotel is known to regularly accommodate Prince Charles and Co, although they haven't been in town for a while.
So you can image that dinners can be quite costly. But a three course lunch menu costs 49.- and is of highest quality! The menu changes every day. If you don't go crazy with wine it's a very good deal!

I had delicious Watercress Soup with Scampi for Starter (I forgot to take a picture).
The main course was breast of quail with pine nut crust and papaya relish.

For dessert I chose a selection of cheeses with a local pear bread - 'Nidle Flade' and fig chutney.

www.walserhof.ch

My brother's cooking club

My brother has a cooking club together with some friends. They meet once a month, sometimes for an evening, sometimes for a weekend, and two people are responsible for the food. They take turns cooking. It's strictly for guys only and so far they've never invited guests. So I was particularly honored when I was allowed to join them for a weekend in Klosters. What better way to spend the weekend than as the only girl with 5 men who are into cooking?! Thank you, guys!

Kristian was responsible for the starter: salad with quail eggs and tiger prawns.

My brother made Ossobuco with polenta and vegetables. The last time I had tried bone marrow was years ago and I hated it. I tried it again and this time loved it! We mixed it with some chives, finely chopped onion and salt and ate it with toast - delicious!

I didn't want to come empty handed so I made dessert: Ottolenghi's orange polenta cake and salty caramel ice cream to go with it.

For breakfast my brother and his friends had bought some graved lachs from Lachserei Ehrat in Klosters: www.lachserei.ch

And my brother made a Spanish omelette following a recipe from Jamie Oliver's iphone app, but gave it a Grisons twist by adding Salsiz instead of chorizo. It tasted fabulous!
I hope I can join my brother's cooking club again some day!

Three beautiful Cafe Lattes!

www.restaurant-markthalle.ch

Sunday in London

I miss Sundays in London the most! In Switzerland people spend Sundays at home preparing for the working week ahead. Maybe that is a slight exaggeration, but sometimes it feels like that when I walk around the empty streets of Zurich.
In London friends meet up, wander around the markets together or go to the pub for a lovely roast lunch, a glass of wine and hung over conversation. Or people cook a roast at home for family and friends. In London Sunday is about enjoying a day off and spending time with loved ones.

Sunday lunch at the Lansdowne Pub in Primrose Hill

www.thelansdownepub.co.uk

My first visit to Whole Foods

I'm a sucker for big beautiful stores with long display cases full of gorgeous food. It was about time that I went to a Whole Foods Market. Of course I immediately got carried away and bought a big box full of salads and veggies and meats. I spent hours staring at the colourful cupcakes and fresh breads. But at the same time I felt slightly sickened by this gluttonous overload of food

I'm not convinced you can really call your produce natural and organic when you've flown it in all the way from Chile and Argentina. Who needs blueberries and strawberries in Winter?

 http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/

Salty chilli squid

Vietnamese salty chilli squid might just be my favourite dish ever! Unfortunately not to be found in Zurich. So when I'm in London I have to eat salty chilli squid at least once, preferably at Cay Tre on Old Street, my favourite Vietnamese restaurant where I had lunch every day for months on end when I was working round the corner.

http://www.vietnamesekitchen.co.uk/caytre/