The Indie Travel Challenge, week 4: Winter Getaways

                                                           
It's week number 4 of the Indie Travel Challenge, and I have to say that this week's topic couldn't be more appopriate. The good folks at Boots'n'all want us to talk about our dream winter destinations. You can see the prompt here.

Saturday night I cam back from a 3 day mini vacation to Leukerbad, in the Valais canton in Switzerland. It was one of my 2012 travel resolutions to see more of the country I live in and going on this trip showed me how much I had ben missing. Switzerland is tiny, but is also very diverse in landscape, language, culture and food. In Tessin, where I live, we have a fiarly mild climate, everyone speaks Italian and things aren't as organized and rigis as one might think. Only two hours away, though, Leukerbad folks speak French and German, the cuisine is definitely not ass-friendly and the Alps, which I see from a distance here on lake Lugano, are so close and beautiful, they take your breath away.

I traveled there by train -total travel time 4 hours and 20 minutes- and was definitely happy not to have to deal with having a car there. It's not a car friendly village, unless you have a 4x4 with snow tires. I was greeted by a gorgeous blue ski and 29°F, perfect weather for a little exploring and working up an appetite. You can see my rendition of rösti, the Valais "national" dish, here.



View from the Alpentherme pools

After lunch it was thermal baths time. Leukerbad is famous for its hot springs and, even more, for the amazing Alpentherme, a complex that features indoors and outdoors hot water pools, saunas, steam baths and everything else your heart might desire. I went there both on Thursday and on Friday, after skiing which was heavenly. The best part? The 100°F outddors pool you can reach from inside, with a view of the Alps and massage jets. A 5 hour pass that includes access to all areas of the complex is 39 CHF, about 45 dollars. a little steep, but worth every penny. 

 Leukerbad also rocks because of its beautiful ski slopes. I spent Friday skiing at the Torrent station, at about 8900 feet. The weather, again, was wonderful, so skiing was even more enjoyable. Not to mention how enjoyable it was to stop at a bar at 8000 feet and drink a cold beer on the terrace, with my face in the sun.

I was lucky enough to see an abundant snowfall on Friday night, after I was done skiing. And Saturday morning, it was still snowing as I woke up. I lingered in bed, under the comforter, watching the snow fall out of the window. It was quiet and peaceful and beautiful, all at the same time. It reminded me of similar mornings back in the 90s, when my parents still had an apartement in Val Gardena, in the Italian Alps. It's alwasy nice to time travel while you are traveling. It made me feel like an 8th grader again, wishing the weather would turn so bad it would keep me from going back home.

Too bad it didn't happen. Not then, not now.

Rösti, a Valais specialty

So i just came back from a mini vacation in the Valais canton in Switzerland. I spent three blissful days skiing and hanging out at the thermal baths in Leukerbad, a gorgeous alpine village that looks exactly like a Swiss mountain village should look. More about that in my next post, which will be all about Leukerbad.

I'm working the closing shift at the paper tonight, so I don't have much time to dwell on my vacation right now. Still, I want to give you a little taste of the cuisine in Valais. Rösti is one of their signature dishes, something that is very similar to hash brow potatoes, but is served for lunch or dinner with many different toppings that range from pancetta to mushrooms and from ham to tomatoes. My favorite rendition is a simple one: potatoes, ham, fried egg and a little cheese. Heaven on a plate, I tell you.

Makes 1:

1/2 pound of potatoes, boiled in their skins the day before


2 to 3 tablespoons of butter

1/2 medium onion

salt to taste

Raclette (or other salty) cheese

Sliced ham

1 fried egg
Peel the cooked potatoes and grate them through a coarse grater. Slice the onions into thin wedges.

Melt the butter in a non-stick frying pan and add the onions and cook them until they look glassy and transparent. Add the grated potatoes and the salt and stir through. Fry while stirring them around in the pan for about 3 to 5 minutes. Press together to form a flat cake and fry over medium heat until there is a golden crust on the bottom.

Place a serving platter on the pan and turn the pan upside down, so the Roesti falls on the platter with the crust on top.

Top with grated cheese, ham and fried egg. Stick under the broiler for 30 seconds and serve.

Things I loved about Zurich

                         

Rosti. What's not to love about a generous serving of shredded potatoes, hash brown style, mixed with raclette cheese and ham bits and topped with a fried egg? Swiss perfection on a plate.

                                   

Gothic cathedrals against the cloudy sky. I don't usually love cloudy skies, but the clouds I saw on my first day in Zurich where very picturesque and made everything look even prettier.

                         

Serious Christmas lights. This city doesn't mess around when it comes to Xmas decorations and lights, they are in every street and on every building...

                                     

 ...including super-cool toy store Franz Carl Weber, a multi story kid's (kid at heart) paradise filled with toys, puppets and games of all kinds.

                            

Oysters at Brasserie Lipp, a wonderful art deco restaurant with one of the biggest and best raw bars I've ever seen. The original Brasserie Lipp is in Paris, but this Swiss replica is as cool looking as the original and serves impeccable food as well.

                            

Christmas markets. I could have bought virtually everything there, although the prices where not exactly affordable. Still I found some cool little presents for my family and friends and vowed to go back next year for more.

                           

 Very cool looking bars. Case in point the Heineken New Bar opposite the Central train station. Neon lights and thousands of booze bottles neatly stocked on the walls.

                           

And speaking of drinks, hot mulled wine of course, or as they call it in Zurich, Glühwein. Throughout the city there are hundreds of little wood huts selling fragrant perfectly spiced mulled wine. The bartenders are dressed like elves and the wine is prepared in big witch-like cauldrons. How cool is that? I wondered what they do with the little huts in the summer. I'm guessing they use them to sell beer.

                                     

Fondue chinoise. One of my favorite dishes ever. There's something so satisfying about cooking your meet in hot steamy broth and then dipping it in one of the six sauces it's served with: curry, sweet and sour, garlic, cocktail, tartar and spicy tomato.

Wordless Wednesdays: Locarno, Lake Maggiore, Switzerland

The 2011 Thanksgiving Challenge

Holy crap, Thanksgiving is almost here! Seriously, it snuck up on me this year. While I usually plan the meal well in advance, this year I had no idea the holiday was upon us until I started notcing everyone posting Thanksgiving recipes on the web.

For the second time in a row I'm hosting a European Thanksgiving extravaganza, where the extravagant part is cooking it all in a ridicolously small kitchen. For about 15 guests. I know it sounds crazy, but I did last year, I can do it again this year, right? Not to mention that this time my mom and dad will be here, so they can help too. On top of that, I had my mom bring me some brining begs form the U.S., so I can prepare the turkey like I did in 2009, which was the best bird ever... ruined only by the fact that I broke my knee while preparing the meal.

So since I'm a little bored today I thought that planning this year's menu would be a good idea, even though every year I end up changing some of it at the last minute. And this year, other than the tiny kitchen challenge, I have a second one: one of my guests is a vegetarian, another one has to eat gluten free. Here's what I have so far:

Homemade patê

Pumpkin Spread (vegetarian and gluten free)

Mushroom Crostini (vegetarian and gluten free)

Maple-Cider Brined Turkey with Bourbon-Cider Gravy (from Cooking Light)

Brussel Sprouts with Bacon and Garlic (from Cooking Light)

Roasted Rosemary Potatoes (vegetarian and gluten free)

Apple and Cranberry Sauce (vegetarian and gluten free)

Ciabatta Stuffing with Chestnuts and Raisins (from Cooking Light) (vegetarian)

Corn Bread Stuffing with Sausage and Apples (gluten free)

Pumpkin Almond Cheesecake (from Cooking Light)

A wonderful fall lunch at Osteria Ciona

Friday the high temperature dropped from 81 to 69 and a cool Northern wind kept the sky clear and the air chilly.It has been a beautiful fall weekend so far, one during which I've eaten all kinds of awesome autumn dishes.
Yesterday my parents and I drove up in the hills over Lake Lugano and had lunch at a place called Osteria Ciona, a traditional Swiss restaurant that specializes in venison this time of the year. It was amazing. The restaurant itself, as you can see, is something out of a postcard. Service is, as it usually is in Switzerland, impeccable. We sat on the terrance, figuring we would take advantage of the last days of warm-enough-for-outside weather. And of course we ordered from the "Fall specialties" menu... because that's what we had gone there for. It was hard to choose, I have to say. There were all kinds of yummy options, ranging from wild boar to deer, cooked in all kinds of ways. In the end we settled for a deer salami as a shared appetizer. It was a great choice. The salami was fresh and tender and so delicious it was almost too good to eat with bread. For our main courses, my mom picked deer filet with polenta and chestnuts (pictured on the right). The meat was tender and cooked just right - juicy and pink on the inside.
My dad also opted for a venison main course. He ordered deer stew, which also was excellent. As for me, I decided to have venison filled ravioli, served with melted butter and sage.
As you can tell there was a lot of butter involved, which made the dish even better. All in all, it was a fantastic lunch. We drank a locally produced merlot which complimented the meal very nicely.
There were other things on the menu that I wanted to try, so I guess I'll be back there pretty soon. The biggest problem around here is that there are too many great restaurants... and so little time.

Wordless Wednesday: the doors and windows of Carona, Switzerland

Wordless Wednesday: My Hipstamatic village

Thai dinner in Switzerland

Who said you can't have delicious Thai food in Switzerland? With a view of the lake? Under the stars? Let me tell you, the Thai dinner we had at the Lido di Bissone, the bar/pool/lake access/beach in the little town of Bissone where I live, was simply amazing. The two chefs came from Chiasso, on the Italian/Swiss border, where they have a little take-away restaurant that I must try asap. So they came here and they cooked in a tiny ass kitchen (I know because I work there, so I realize how difficult it is to produce food for the masses in that kitchen) for five hours, always smiling, never raising their voice, being efficient and quick and precise all at the same time. Let's just say that they should be an example to many others who do less and get pissed about everything. Just sayin'.

Anyhow, the food was amazing. The menu offered spring rolls — crunchy and not at all greasy, made to perfection — followed by pork red curry (picture above), Thai shrimp (first picture), chicken with cashews (picture below), fried rice, rice noodles with vegetables, beef in oyster sauce, tuna with five spices. It was served buffet style, so you could go back as many times as you wanted to get more. And many times we went. I have a thing for noodles with vegetables, so I'm not ashamed to say that I ate three portions. I know, I know. But what can I say? I love the stuff. I love it so much that I didn't even have time to take a picture of it. 

So the Thai dinner was a great success. Many had never had Thai food before and it was great to see how curious and interested they were in a cuisine that is very foreign to them. For those of us who had had Thai many times before was a welcome change. There aren't many Thai restaurants in the area. Hell, there aren't many ethnic restaurants in general. To have all this great food brought practically at our doorstep was a real treat. And eating it at sunset overlooking the lake was just the icing on the cake. What can I say? On Saturdays they usually have BBQs at the Lido, but I hope they will repeat the Thai dinner at least once before summer is over. If they do I'll starve myself all day, so I can eat a fourth serving of noodles!

Wordless Wednesday: Easter Monday celebration

Fondue chinoise

There are a few things that are very Swiss. Most stereotypes are... well, just stereotypes. Case in point: the famous punctuality of Swiss trains. Yeah. Right. I take a train from here to Milano twice a week because it's more cost effective than driving and let me tell you, Swiss trains are NOT always on time. This particular one is almost always 10 to 15 minutes late and it comes from Zurich, mind you. Swiss people from Zurich speak German and like to think of themselves as "the real Swiss", implying that the Swiss from the south, who speak Italian, are not as Swiss as them. Well, I guess that regardless of that, they still cannot get the train to Chiasso in time. Unless I'm running late, of course. Then it's there early, of course. 

So if we cannot count on Swiss trains being on time, what can we count on? Amazing cheese. Even better chocolate. And fondue. Fondue is quintessentially Swiss, in all its forms. There's of course cheese fondue. And chocolate fondue. And then there's fondue Bourguignonne —cubes of filet mignon cooked in sizzling hot oil— which is delicious but makes your house, your clothes and your hair smell like a cheap Chinese restaurant for days. Which is why, when I eat fondue at home, I prefer the Chinoise (Chinese) version: thinly sliced beef —think carpaccio— served raw, then cooked by each guest in an aromatic broth, and accompanied by the same dipping sauces you would use for a Bourguignonne. 

So here's the thing. First you have to have good meat, as good a meat as you would use to make carpaccio. Second, you have to make a good broth —it's simply not enough to throw some random canned broth in a pan and use it. If you can't make your own broth, which is understandable because it takes a long time, at least use the best cubes money can buy and add some herbs and spices to it. Last, but definitely not least, don't buy crap jarred sauces. Seriously. I'm famous for my hatred for jarred mayo and the reason is if you have an immersion blender there's absolutely no excuse not to make your own mayo and, therefore, your own sauces. It takes literally two seconds to make the basic mayo and a few more to customize it into four delicious dipping sauces. Traditionally, fondue is served with white rice and french fries as sides. If you ask me, making the rice is pretty much superflous since everyone attacks the fries and nobody eats it, but it's tradition. So I make it anyway. 

  

FONDUE CHINOISE

1/2 pound of thinly sliced beef tenderloin per person

Note: slice the beef right before serving so it doesn't get dark around the edges. 

For the broth:

8 cups of water

4 beef broth cubes

Fresh thyme

One onion, chopped

A few black peppercorns

Prepare the broth in a regular stock pot or directly in the fondue pot, then place in the middle of the table and fire up the flame to keep it nice and hot. 

And now, for the dipping sauces...

Basic mayo recipe:

Place 1 egg, 1 cup of oil, a pinch of salt, the juice of a half lemon and a teaspoon of mustard in a cup. Place immersion blender all the way to the bottom, turn on and slowly lift it to the surface. Done. It's that easy. 

Curry sauce:

Add garam masala, cumin, turmeric and onion powder to basic mayo recipe.

 Cocktail sauce:
Add two tablespoons of ketchup, a splash of cognac and a splash of Worcestershire sauce to basic mayo recipe.

 Tartare sauce:
Add one chopped hard boiled egg, three minced gherkins, and a tablespoon of minced capers to basic mayo recipe.

 Horseradish sauce:
Add horseradish to taste to basic mayo recipe.

Brunsli (Swiss cookies)

This is going to be my first "Swiss" Christmas, so I thought it would be nice to publish a typical Swiss Christmas recipe. I am very much enjoying the cold weather, the lights, the snow and the winter foods I've experienced so far, but most of all I'm re-discovering the pleasure of drinking hot tea in the afternoon, which inevitably brings you to want some good cookies to go with it. Brunsli are usually rolled out and cut with cookie cutters, but can also be rolled into pralines, which is what I decided to do to give them somewhat of a different look. Out of all the different cookies I've made for Christmas (yes, there is more to come!) these were my favorite ones. Maybe it was the dark chocolate. Maybe it was the spices. Maybe it was the fact they are soft and decadent and bite-sized. Whatever it is, they are definitely something to try.

BRUNSLI

From about.ch

• 5 ounces sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 9 ounces ground almonds
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 pinch of clove powder
• 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons of flour
• 2 fresh egg whites 
• 3.5 ounces bitter chocolate
• 2 teaspoons of rum

1. Mix sugar, salt, almonds, cinnamon, clove powder, cocoa powder and flour in a bowl.
2. Add white of egg and stir until ingredients are evenly distributed.
3. Cut chocolate in real small pieces, pour hot water over the chocolate, let rest for about 5 minutes, then pour off all water except about half a tablespoon, stir until even. Now immediately proceed with the next step.
4. Add melted chocolate from the previous step and the kirsch, knead to a soft dough.
5. Roll out dough on a flat surface (it may be slightly covered with sugar), approximately 10 mm (0.4 inches) thick. Put out different shapes and put them on a baking sheet covered with baking paper.
6. Let them rest for about 5 to 6 hours or over night in a dry place.
7. Bake for about 4 to 6 minutes in the center of the pre-heated oven at 250 °C (480 °F).
8. Let cool completely before serving.

Life on Lake Lugano

I learned to love lakes only recently, as a twenty-something spending two months between Lake Como and Lake Lugano. As a child lakes made me sad, although it would be difficult to say why. I think they sort of conveyed an almost impalpable feeling of melancholy, one that I was never able to explain to lake lovers nor to the rest of my family. My paternal grandparents owned a lake house on a small, picturesque lake in Piedmont, Lake Orta. I spent most of my childhood secretly wishing they hadn't bought the place, for I was sent there to "breathe some fresh clean air" every June and, truth be told, I hated being there. Don't get me wrong, I loved my grandparents dearly and they were both fantastic in their two very different, almost opposite, ways. And they loved the lake and the lake house and since I was such a polite kid, I never really said out loud that the lake did nothing for me. At least not to them. Every day, when my parents called to say hello, I would half whisper to my mom that I was bored and that I wanted to go home. Soon, she always said. Soon, of course, would never come fast enough. The days stretched out endlessly, as I walked the grounds pretending I was someone else somewhere else. I helped grandma pick vegetables from the garden. I learned the names of all our flowers from grandpa. I waited for the bell tower clock to strike six o'clock because I knew that that was the time when my mother would call. The afternoon took forever to end and the lake sat there, still and silent, much like everything else in the village. 

 

Fast forward twenty years. It's 2007 and Tommy and I take two months off so that I can show him around Northern Italy. We stay at my parents' house on Lake Lugano, the very house from which I'm blogging right now. And all of the sudden, the lake seems beautiful to me. Granted it's not the same lake, but still. I even ended up liking Lake Orta, and all the other lakes in between.  

 

Now I even enjoy the lake when the weather is less than stellar, like it was the day I took this picture. The mountains reflecting in the water and the ferry lazily going by are reasons enough to smile these days. I guess the older you get the easier it is to be entertained. Or maybe the older you get the least likely you are to miss your parents or your house while you are at the lake and all of the sudden you don't find it sad at all. Or maybe it's just that now this is my home, at least for the time being.

 

And there is one more thing about lakes that I love: ducks. Especially ducks with their babies. I saw the first baby duck of the season not long ago and I spent twenty minutes watching her following her mom around, swimming super fast to keep up and following the big ducks around to eat the stale bread kids were throwing around. Another sign of old age? Perhaps.

Beautiful Bellinzona

 

Yes, I've been incredibly lazy. I could blame it on the time change or on the crappy weather —which has been incredibly crappy around here...— but I'm not going to make up excuses. The truth is, I've been lazy because I have been seeing old friends and eating at restaurants and so on, which means I haven't cooked much nor have I had time to sit down and write in this blog.

Anyhow, now my parents are en route back to Florida and I'm here all alone, with the cat, and soon I'll start cooking and posting again. In the mean time, here are some pictures I've taken in Bellinzona, Switzerland, a beautiful town famous for its three medieval castles and narrow streets. Our idea was to go eat at one of the castles, Castelgrande, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, but alas we went there on a Monday, and the place is closed on Mondays. I swear, as soon as the weather gets better I'm going to go there and have lunch on the castle's terrace. And while I wait for the weather to get decent, I'll be cooking and posting about it. I promise.