salad, sammies, and something tasty for dinner

the bounty this week from christian's parent's garden was frisée lettuce and chard!

i love salad. this one, in particular, was delightful.
i used:
a nectarine
2 carrots
a bunch of frisée lettuce
some dried cranberry
2 boiled eggs

and for the dressing, i combined mustard, vinegar, honey, and olive oil.



these days, it's like switzerland remembered there wasn't much of a summer, so it better get down to business and provide one.  it has been quite warm! lausanne is on a huge hill (the elevation ranges from 372 m at the lake to 929.4 m at the top of the hill), with lots of small hills, so walking around town these days makes one hot and sweaty and ready for something cool an crunchy.

this salad beautifully combined the sweet of the fruit with the bite of the lettuce. plus it was pretty.  i love the colours.

the plan was to sprinkle some pistachio nut on top, but truth be told, i forgot.  until i was halfway through.  and by then, i was not going to run into the kitchen and shell a handfull of nuts to crush to enjoy.

while we were in the airport in madrid, the unthinkable happened--i ate something.... tasty!! can you believe it?! i still cant.   it was a lovely tuney fish sandwich with raisins in it.  and that got me thinking.  know what goes with raisins? apple.  know what goes with apple? curry.  and my lunch was born.

ive always been a bit of a monotonous tuney fish maker.  mustard, dill, fish, yogurt (or occasionally mayo).  my routine changed a little after living in china because adam always made tuney melts, so that became a standard for me.   but still, it was pretty routine.  not saying it's not delicious, but still.  so when i bit into the sandwich in spain and there were raisins, i was surprised and delighted.  this sandwich, inspired by that sandwich, did not disappoint.

the bread here is awesome, but the "toast" isnt. "toast" is sandwich bread. it doesnt matter how many times i've protested that "toast" isnt toast until it's toasted to no avail. if you want a big sandwich, you have to buy the american "XL" toast. it's white processed junk. i am happy to know there are whole grain sandwich breads here. because yuk.


i am a sucker for something crunchy with this kind of sandwich so i munched on some dijon potato chips the mister bought and, i think, forgot about.

after mixing the shredded apple, raisins, drained fish, yogurt, and curry, i let it all hang out before i assembled the sandwich. i wanted the flavours to get a chance to know each other.

i'm glad i did.

i'm also glad i had some swiss chard!! or, as it's called here, chard.  since we had some big healthy leaves, i decided to stuff and bake them.


i used:

5 mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
lovage
goat cheese
1/4 cup uncooked red quinoa
lemon slices


i cooked and fluffed some red chard (i used a mushroom stock instead of water), chopped the mushrooms and garlic and chard stems, minced a handful of lovage, and combined that all with fresh goat cheese.

a lemon was sliced and the bottom layer of my roasting pan lined with the fruit.  these slices serced as a way to keep the rolls from hanging out on the bottom.  lemon stilts.

i chopped off the chard stems earlier, when i was preparing the mixture, and cut the leaves into a lily pad shape.  basically, i cut a v out of the bottom, removing the stem.

to make the rolls, i lay out the leaf and crossed one side over the other, to get rid of the V , plunked down some of the mixture towards the top, and rolled it, folding the sides in.


each roll was balanced on the lemons.  once the pan was full, i added enough mushroom stock to cover the lemons, but not saturate the rolls.

these were incredibly filling.  i was so stuffed after one, i wrapped my other one in plastic wrap and ate it for lunch later in the week.



i had a tomato that needed to be used and some room in th pan, so i gutted and filled the tomato with some leftover quinoa.

the mister made himself a seared steak to have with the chard

next up: the mojo experiments have begun!!

Bon Appétit

put a little lovage in your heart: stuffed tomaters

we stayed with christian's family this weekend and returned home with fresh veggies from the garden--chard and lovage and tomaters and salades (salad greens).

for lunch, i made stuffed tomatoes. i used:
one slice of stale bread, crumbled
2 cloves of garlic
3 chard leaves and stems (the chard here is huge)
a large clump of lovage



i separated the leaves from the chard and lightly steamed the stem. meanwhile, i chopped the tops from the tomatoes and scooped them out with a spoon, saving the guts for something else. once the stems were steamed, i let them cool and then chopped them up in the food processor, along with the bread, garlic, and lovage. i love lovage. poor lovage doenst get enough love in the US... boy howdy is it gooooooood.

 it has a rather strong flavour: parsley with a bite but with a hint of celery, and the crisp of cilantro without the cilantro flavour.

it has zip.


i steamed the leaves of the chard as well, just to get things rolling, and chopped them up once they cooled.



i gave the tomatoes a crank of salt and pepper each and warmed up the oven to 350/175°.

then i grated some special cheese...



Gruyère from the village where christian grew up. his grandfather was a cheesemaker in the Fromagerie next door to the family home, and that's where this came from.

there are not rows and rows of gruyère rounds like in Gruyères, but i like the cheese from baulmes because of the family history. and i like cows.










i also like that in the evenings, you can see the line of farmers delivering fresh milk.

so, yes, i grated some cheese, plunked that on top, and put the tomatoes in the oven for about a half an hour until the cheese was golden and gooey and the whole place smelled amazing.

and in the end, i had a pretty fabulous lunch.

the leftovers are not so shabby either.

In which our Hero decides to listen to folks

i love to cook. and bake. luckily, my partner loves to eat. we work well together. i cannot say how many times i harass him with the age old question, "hey there, hot stuff, what do you want for dinner?" the answer is usually a look of exasperation, a blank stare, or a mindless uttering of "something good."  in other words, yes please.

 i've been sharing my food creations with friends and family for quite a time, and for quite a time friends and family have urged me to write about my chefs-d'oeuvre. and why not? i look back at old photographs of the tasty treats ive made and i dont always remember what i did. so here i am.

im sitting on our balcony at present and the birds are singing like mad.  it's 9:20 in the evening and i still have enough light to write and enjoy the view of the alps in front of me.

i just ate dessert.

cherry and rhubarb crisp

tonight is a rare night when the mister isn't home in which i go ahead and make a dessert. but basically, ive been eating on my own since sunday, so why the hell not. he's really busy this week. his mom gave us some goodies from the garden (you will notice some themes) and i have had a wonderful time making things.  like what i just demolished.

i removed the pits from the cherries and chopped the rhubarb into moons.  i mixed that with some candied ginger chunks (not a whole lot--maybe two pieces?) and some almonds.  i threw the makings into an oven-proof dish.  then i combined some wheat flour, some grains (not just oats--quick oats dont really exist here), some coveted brown sugar (not so much, just a little), and butter.  i mashed that up a bit and topped the fruit.  then i put it in the oven (at 200° C) for half-hour-ish? i lost track of time as i was listening to the birds and talking with my dear laura in california.  the mister came home with nice cream the other day--something i dont think i've bought in the 2 years since ive lived here--so i went ahead and helped myself.  deeeeelish.

dinner this evening was a lovely chard pesto. i chopped some tomaters to put on top for kicks.  and for colour.  i like to cook with colour.

chard pesto: chard, garlic, basil, cashews, olive oil

which reminds me of last night's dinner, pineapple surprise.  the surprise is there's no pineapple. 

SURPRISE! 

pineapple surprise is an original recipe, though it changes with the tide, and whatever we happen to have floating around.  i usually make pineapple surprise with cilantro but we didnt have any and the markets were already closed.  i just used some chard.  the standard ingredients that dont change include bell pepper, black beans, onion, and mango.  it's also normally served with corniebread, though brown rice is not a bad choice.  you might have noticed that i wrote  corniebread, not cornbread.  this is not a typo.  corniebread is not your typical cornbread.  no, no, it's bright and colourful.  just like me.  ive been making my cornbread this way since 1995.  it just tastes better.  and i love cornbread.

2 eggs

1/3 cup oil

1 1/2 cup milk

3 tbsp melted butter

2/3 cup sugar 

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp bkg powder

mix wet ingredients in one small bowl.  mix dry ingredients in another bowl.  slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.  pour into prepared baking vessel of choice.   

corniebread requires this slight variation: 

after the ingredients are poured into the baking pan, put a few drops of food colouring into the mixture and swirl around with an egg beater, fork, or instrument of choice.  

commence baking.   35 minutes at 350°/175° ...or until a toothpick declares itself clean.  

the recipe for pineapple surprise is as follows: 

sauté onion.  add bell peppers.  add lime juice (squeeze limes and lemons with the cut side up.  it lets the juice run down but not seeds).  add mango.  add beans.  stir stir stir.  eat.  

i like simple food.  just because something is simple does not make it bad.  pineapple surprise is a quick and healthy dinner.

another rather quick dish was what i had for lunch yesterday.  i have no name for this recipe as of yet... but let's just call it yumm-o!

i often make a huge batch of quinoa to keep around for salads. sometimes i make it with coconut milk because i am wild and crazy. i had some hanging out in the fridge, and some strawberries that needed to go. also some asparagus that was looking a little sad (i think it was the last of the season...nooooooooooo!).  there was also chard and rhubarb from my mother-in-law.   i sautéed a shallot, added the asparagus, added the rhubarb, gave those a whirl, and added the chard just at the end so it would be bright and green and full of nutrients.  then i plunked all that on top of the quinoa, added a few strawberries, and that's that.  the rhubarb was quite tasty--it added a lovely zing to the dish.  almost lemony! 

simple and tasty.

also simple and tasty was the pizza i made on sunday.  now, usually i make my own dough.  but i must confess.  this time i used a ready-made that fell into my grocery baskey last week.  oops.  well, i did what any savvy lass would do: i ate it.

i had some goat cheese, some mozzarella (the pizza dough had friends in the baskey), some asparagus, two nectarines (gonk) on their last legs, fresh basil, and one can of tomato paste.  ask my mom about me and tomato paste sometime.

i made a quick sauce with the tomato paste and herbs (dried basil and oregano), layered on slices of moo-zarella, and lovingly arranged the rest of the goods.

after i baked the pie, i added the fresh basil and devoured it.  well, half of it.  the mister was lucky enough to enjoy some when he got back sunday evening.

the last dish i would like to share was also thematically simple.

quinoa, chard, lime, goat cheese

i zested a lime into a bowl, juiced half the lime, and added in some goat cheese.  then i let that hang out.  meanwhile, i made a fresh batch of quinoa (i did not use the coconut milk batch but just regular ol' water).  when the quinoa was halfway done, i threw some chard into the pot.  i let it simmer, then turned off the heat and kept the lid on for a minute to let it steam.  then i emptied the bowl in with the chard and quinoa and juiced the other half the of the lime.

i ate it with an avocado.

you can eat anything with an avocado.

anything.

anything. 

bon appétit <3