cheese, beer, cheese, pretzels & cheese
While in Germany, do as the Germans do. That’s the saying, right? Well, in Germany, they drink a lot of beer, eat pretzels (and lots of other REALLY good bread!) and throw back a ton of cheese!
You can count on doubling down on that cheese when you’re in Switzerland. All of that led to a lot of cheese at my German-Swiss Dinner Party.
The onslaught of cheese began when guests arrived, at the appetizer table. I served our family favorite, Blue Cheese Fondue with bread, cherry tomatoes, salted baby potatoes, and Belgium endive spears. Directly next to the fondue pots was a raclette grill. What is Raclette?
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ra·clette
- a Swiss dish of melted cheese, typically eaten with potatoes.
- a semi-hard cow’s milk cheese that is usually fashioned into a wheel of about 6 kg (13 lb). It is most commonly used for melting. It is also a French dish based on heating the cheese and scraping off (racler) the melted part.
- a traditional Swiss dish that dates back to the time when cowherds would pasture their animals high in the Alps and camp alongside them. There, they would cut open their wheels of cheese and warm them on a rock by the campfire, scraping the edge of the cheese as it melted over cooked potatoes, pickles, and ham for the most rustic of meals. Raclette comes from the French verb racler, to scrape.
Raclette cheese (as seen above – when we enjoyed it in Gruyere, Switzerland) can be found at specialty stores year-round and at Trader Joe’s during the holidays. It wasn’t available at TJ’s yet and I didn’t feel like going to another store, so I used a delicious apple-pie cheddar, Gouda, and Gruyere in my raclette grill.
The cheese was served with the same accompaniments that we enjoyed in Switzerland; boiled potatoes, pickled onions, gherkin pickles, and thick slices of bread.
This is my raclette grill, it’s not as big and fancy as the Swiss version. It has eight small grill pans that slide under the broiler along with a granite top that heats up and can keep accompaniments warm if desired. I served the accompaniments at room temperature, off to the side.
To go with all that cheese, I whipped up some homemade mini-pretzels. The large ham and Swiss cheese pretzel sandwich pictured above is one that I devoured in Munich. It was SO good!
My pretzels were a bit tamer.
October 12, 2016 1 Comment
better than your average chocolate chip cookies
Last summer, I introduced my Illinois bestie, Jen, to Pinterest. One of the first things she spotted was these cookies. We went directly to the store and bought the ingredients.
Best. Chocolate Chip Cookies. Ever!
Since they are so fabulous, I have not made a batch since!
Don’t act surprised, you know why… I’d eat them before they had a chance to cool and then loath myself for days on end. Yesterday I decided to tempt fate. I whipped up a batch, set them out to cool, and left the house.
Upon my return, I immediately packed them up and placed the cookies in the freezer. I did not eat one.
Little miracles happen every single day!
Later this week, the frozen cookies will board a plane with me to Canada and be served at a 4th of July picnic.
Classic American Holiday + The Canadian Wilderness + Extra-Special Chocolate Chip Cookies = Perfection.
I used the reddish Alaea and the white Kona sea salts I brought home from Hawaii for two of the baking sheets of cookies and the pink Murray River salt for the third one. Use whatever sea salt you have on hand.
June 30, 2013 3 Comments