Onion Market: Zibelemärit in the Swiss capital

This was not the longest arrangement, a 2 m long one carried a lable "SOLD"

The last Monday in November is Zibelemärit (Onion market for the less eloquent in Swiss German) in Berne, the Swiss capital. This is a big event for the locals. We are even granted half a day public holiday and some schools let the children to mark and enjoy the event. The true fans of this day start off at four or five in the morning, the public transport starts an hour earlier than on other days. It is a good idea to come by public transport as many will be keeping themselves warm drinking Glühwein (mulled wine) or Punsch.

Stalls and people everywhere

The market really is about lots of stalls selling onion wreaths and garlic wreaths and all sorts of creative onion and garlic decorations. Funny enough, the market does not smell of onion at all. Occasionally the nose catches the inviting garlic bread aroma from some catering stalls.

Smiling onion ladies

There is lots of typical food to choose from on the onion market: onion pie, cheese pie, fondue, potato rösti, bratwurst, Lebkuchen. Specialties from other Kantons (Counties) can be bought as well.

Onion and cheese pies in all sizes

Speck from Kanton Glarus

 

If the Swiss food is not your favourite, burgers, hot dogs, roasted almonds, chinese fried specialties or even Dutch sweet poffertjes will not leave you hungry.

 

Roasted almonds and Lebkuchen

 

Even the Dutch are claiming a stand at the onion market

A portion of 5 poffertjes with sugar and butter go for 6 Francs

Over the years the market seems to have expanded and is now occupying most streets in the city center including the Parliament square.



Garlic, Onions and Lavender from Provence, France

A loooong salami that was

I mentioned that most of the children are free from school on this day. To fill their time adequately, they walk around throwing confetti at everyone and hitting the passers-by with plastic hammers. Confetti and hammers are probably the best sellers in the non-food segment items on this day. A day well spent.

Walking around the streets in the city center the scents and sensations of the brewing wine in huge kettles is inebriating the market visitors to the beat of the 80´s "Voyage, Voyage" or to Lenny Kravitz´s desire to get away and fly away. Listening to some of my non-Swiss friends they would join in with Lenny trying to escape the crowds and being hit on the head with a hammer.

The colourful confetti is cleaned fast in the evening and before the night falls the streets shine as a new pair of glasses.

A piece of cheese pie and that´s dinner sorted. If you´d like to learn a Swiss German word, try "Chäschueche", it means cheese pie.

 

Swiss chäschueche or cheese pie

Farmers Market: Leek and Red Potato Soup;

It is quite refreshing to see new stalls appear at my local farmers market. Recently I found two girls selling five or six different types of potatoes. Potatoes was all they had. Focus and specialize. Nice. Like specialised cheese stands or a fairly new beef stand whose selection includes tongue and oxtail (...think of oxtail soup...) or Italian fruits and vegetables with their artichokes or bio lemons that have a voluptuous knobbly shape disguised by a few dark green leaves or a local farmer specializing in lama meat charcuterie and berries or most recently a stand with a selection of gluten free offering.

Back to potatoes. Some of their varieties like Agria and Gourmandine I know and have tasted. They also had a blue variety, the "Blaue St. Gallen". It was the red ones that caught my attention this time, the Red Emmalie.

The coloured potatoes are getting a more vigorous acceptance by the restaurants. Not long ago, one of my favourite local restaurants, Mille Sens, served a green cream soup topped with freshly hand fried blue potato chips. This made my eyes eat from the plate and my head nod in appreciation.
The bio/organic sections in some supermarkets are starting to offer coloured potatoes in their selection. There are also a few farmers at the weekly market who offer blue potatoes. Slowly the potatoes are entering the colourful Samba mile at the fresh produce festival.

I find it is perfectly fine to use these rather unusual colour tubers in common ways of cooking, especially if time is tight for more sofisticated action in the kithcen. The pure fact that they are blessed with an unconventional colour the coloured potatoes will be the winners on the plate. Recently I made blue potato and garlic confit.

A mid week time saver, a classic, straightforward leek and potato soup is easy to pimp up with different colour potatoes.

Leek and Red Potato Soup
Ingredients for 2
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 small onion, sliced
200-300g leek, chopped, without the green tops. Use the gree part in a stew or another soup, no need to waste it.
300g potatoes, (red, blue or any colour) peeled and cut into small cubes
1 bay leaf
0.75 l boiling water
salt

fried bacon strips (optional)

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a pan and cook the sliced onion in the oil until it softens.
2. Add the potato cubes (ca. 1 cm size) together with the chopped leek and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring a few times.
3. At the same time, heat the water in an electric kettle, if you have one at hand.
4. Pour the water into the pan and cover the potatoes and leeks. (I dont´t recommend hot water from the tap)
5. Add a bayleaf and ca.1 teaspoon of salt or to your taste.
6. Cook on a low to medium heat until the potatoes become soft.
7. In a small pan fry the bacon strips and a few minutes before the soup is ready, add the previously fried bacon strips to the soup.

Blue potato and garlic confit with smoked mackerel mousse

Blue potatoes make a great potato confit. A few farmers at my local Saturday morning farmers´market are selling blue potatoes. Occasionally red flesh potatoes can be found. There are a couple of varieties of blue potatoes, the more frequent (I wanted to say common, but blue potatoes are not really common, are they) one sold here is called Blauer St Gallener or sometimes St. Gallerli, whereby the "-li" ending denotes the diminutive form in Swiss German. And the diminutive is spot on because the tubers are generally small. Just right for cooking potato confit.

Potato confit, simply put, is cooking potatoes in fat or oil at low temperature. Seasoning with fresh herbs and garlic adds the extra flavour and best of all while the potatoes are cooking in the oven the smells coming from the kitchen are tickling the senses in anticipation of a great meal.

Small Blaue St Gallerli with rosemary and garlic ready for potato confit

Blue Potato Confit
Ingredients for 2-3 portions:
1 kg small blue potatoes, thoroughly washed, unpeeled
2 garlic bulbs
fresh rosmary
4dl olive oil
sea salt

A confidently generous amount of garlic recommended

Heat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius / 350 F
1. Place the rosemary sprigs and potatoes into an oven form. I prefer 2 smaller forms instead of one larger form to keep the oil level high and potatoes compactly together.
2. Cut the bottom of the garlic bulb off and spread the cloves between the potatoes.
3. Cook the potatoes in the oven for ca. 1 hour until soft.
4. To serve cut a cross on one side of the potato and press the potato together slightly to "open" it.
5. Remove the garlic from the skins and serve too. The garlic confit has a slightly sweet taste.
6. Season with sea salt.

I keep the oil, now fragrant with garlic and rosemary, and use it later for cooking. For example it gives an extra flavour to risotto.

 

Smoked Mackerel Mousse
This is a simple way to prepare a smooth mackerel mousse or spread that can be used on a sandwich or as an accompaniment to the succulent potato confit.

Ingredients:
1 smoked mackerel, ca. 300g
1 tbsp capers, finely chopped
3-4 tbsp sour cream
chives, finely chopped

1. Carefully clean the mackerel from skin and bones. Place the fish into a bowl and mix with a fork to prepare a smooth consistency.
2. Add the chopped capers to the fish.
3. Combine the sour cream with mackerel and capers into a smooth mousse.
4. Serve with chives.

Baked Sweet Potato Dessert

My work has brought me to researching the baked potato growing in the past year. Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is a warm climate loving vegetable, botanically not related to the potato (Solanum tuberosum). I found out that in many countries sweet potatoes are grown by small farms and consumed a lot as street food. Often simply baked and as a dessert rather than as a savoury dish. In Europe it is grown on a small scale in south of Spain and in south of Portugal.

The sweet potato growing industry is getting more focus, meaning that more resources are spent on research and variety development. The growing consumer demand is driving larger scale industrial farming of sweet potato. I have seen sweet potatoes imported from Isreael, USA, Spain, Egypt on sale in supermarkets and farmers´markets here in Switzerland. The global easy access to exotic fruits and vegetables and the pressure on innovation has placed sweet potatoes into most new cookbooks. The wider awareness of the American Thanksgiving dinner outside the United States has brought the sweet potato onto dinner tables in Europe. Sweet potato crisps can be found in niche selection in supermarkets or eco-groceries.

I felt it my duty to get to know the vegetable I was researching a bit closer. I can say that sweet potato is great in soups, a delicious accompaniment to roasted lamb and a Thanksgiving turkey.

 

 

Baked Sweet Potato Dessert
Ingredients for one portion (multiply by as many portions as needed)
1 sweet potato per person, ca. 100g each
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp crème fraîche

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Wash the sweet potatoes and pat them dry with kitchen paper.
3. Stab each sweet potato twice with a fork.
4. Place the sweet potatoes on a baking tray and cook in the oven for 60 minutes until you can feel they are soft.
5. Cut them in half, spread 1 table spoon of honey on each half and serve with crème fraîche.

The effort in preparation of this dessert is almost next to nothing. Bake the sweet potatoes in the oven while preparing the rest of the meal and spreading a bit of honey and cream is a matter of two minutes. Worth a try.

 

Sweet and Savoury Fig and Feta Tart

There are occasions when opposite flavours can be successfully matched together. Cheese paired with sweet fruit or marmelade, cheesecake with berries are heavenly marriages. For everyone who savours a sweet and savoury taste mixing in the mouth here is a tart that is weighing its options whether to fall into the sweet or savoury category or stay balanced in the middle.

Sweet and Savoury Fig and Feta Tart
Ingredients

The dough:
200g butter
100g sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
2 eggs (S/ 53g)
250g darker plain four (Germam: Halbweissmehl)

Baking beans

Filling:
200g feta cheese, crumbled
3 tbsp soft honey
a pinch of herbes de Provance (optional)
8-10 ripe figs, cut into 8 sectors

Whisk the butter with salt, sugar (and vanilla) until smooth. Combine the eggs and then sift in the flour.
Quickly mix everything into a smooth dough. Wrap the dough ball into a plastic bag and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

Set the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (370 F). Prepare a tart tin either with baking paper or butter it well and flour it lightly.

Roll the dough to 5-6 mm thickness and transfer into the tin covering all sides. Cut off the excess dough.
Place a sheet of aluminium foil or baking paper on the dough and the baking beans on it.
Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Mix the crumbled feta cheese with honey. Prepare the figs.

Take the dough out of the oven, remove the beans and the foil.

Spread the feta and honey mixture on the dough. Sprinkle with the herbs de Provance if you choose to use them.

Arrange the figs on top of the feta. Drizzle a little honey on the figs.

Bake for 30-40 minutes until the dough turns brown on the edges.

 

More goat cheese and fruit recipes:
Fresh figs with feta cheese
Bruschettas with goat cheese, persimmon and pear

Food from the forest: Wild berry loaf cake with ricotta and lingonberries

Lingonberries, Ger:Preiselbeere, Est: Pohlad

Lingonberries from Estonian forests

The berries in the picture are wild lingonberries. They grow in forests in Estonia and other northern European countries. I haven´t been to the Finnish forests however judging by the amount of lingonberry recipes in Finnish cookbooks I know that the neigbours in the north have the wild berries close to their hearts too.

Lingonberries are Preiselbeere in German. Sometimes they are mistaken for cranberries, indeed both are red, but these are two different species and they grow in different soil.



Lingonberries and cranberries are different spieces.

This year it has been a generous lingonberry year. Recently I described the special berry or mushroom places, a sort of special knowledge passed on from generation to generation or between the enthusiasts sharing the passion for food from the forest. During my latest trip to Estonia I discovered that my sister had recorded a new route, a "Lingonberry Place 2", in the GPS. Evem though it was already rather late in the season, the place was red with lingonberries. Just find the plumpest berries and "rake" them together following the first principle of choose the best of the best, the the best of of the worst and then everything else.

I was driving around in south Estonia and couldn't help but notice how the places had changed because the public government owned forest areas got a clean-up or the privately owned forests get felled and probably became an export article. This is leaving an impact on the foraging places.

Wild lingonberry ricotta loaf cake

Ingredients

3 large eggs, the 73g+ ones or 4 smaller eggs

200g brown sugar

220g ricotta
0.5 tsp vanilla extract

90g butter, melted and cooled

250g flour (half dark weat four is what I used)

20g baking powder

2 handful (ca 2 dl) fresh or frozen lingonberries, or more or less to your taste

Powder sugar (optional)

 

Instructions:

1. Set the oven to 170 degrees Celsius (340 F)

2. Keep the eggs at room temperature.

3. Beat the eggs and sugar into a thick foam.

4. Add ricotta and vanilla extract and beat again until smooth.

5. Pour the cooled down melted butter into the mixture.

6. Mix the baking powder with the flour and sieve the flour into the dough.

7. Lastly, add the lingonberries, mix briefly.

8. Fit a loaf baking form with baking paper and pour the dough into the form.

9. Bake for 50-60 minutes until the dough does not stick to the knife or match stick when piercing it to check doneness.

10. Take out onto the cooling rack. When the cake has cooled, decorate with powder sugar.
 

The lingonberries can be replaced by wild or industrially grown blueberries or black currants.

For more wild berry recipes see:
Wild blueberry and ricotta "boats"
Wild blueberry soup with fluffy semolina pudding
Cranberry dessert - pink semolina

Food from the forest: wild blueberry and ricotta "boats"

Freshly baked pastry out of the oven, a cup of coffee... that´s the kind of morning I like.



July and August is the wild blueberry season in the north of Europe. Lots of people take the opportunity to wander into the forest. I was reading how one of the Finnish Government ministers was motivating people to go and pick wild berries. He said that the Finnish forests are full of these berries, the problem is to get them out of there as food for people. He couldn´t be more right, same goes for Estonia.

The wild blueberries, or any other wild berries for that matter, are full of top antioxidants you can´t buy in any pharmacy, and besides the nutritional benefits I can say with confidence that the taste is just uncomparably top of the world. There is nothing more "Eco" or "Bio" than these berries that have grown without any drop of forced irrigation and the journey from picking it to the mouth is a couple of seconds long. Eat as much as you can. And when you get tired you can sit down on the soft moss and reach out for more like a panda bear.

Now then. Following the neigbour country´s minister´s call we grabbed our "baskets" and made our way to the forest that we know has been a good place for blueberries.
The thing is that the good places for any forest crop are more or less kept secret among a close circle of family and friends. By the forest crops I mean berries like wild blueberries, red lingonberries, yellow cloud berries, chanterelle or other mushrooms. Cloud berries are more available in Finnland,  further north from Estonia. Or perhaps we don´t know the right places.

There is plenty of time to let all sorts of thoughts fly through the head when foraging in a forest. I was contemplating that there is even a special word for a small basket in the Estonian language. It is called "marjakorv", meaning simply a berry basket. In the past, I mean in the centuries before the 21st, it was customary to pick the wild berries into a nice basket. The modern times provide more comfort and more practical materials like plastic. Especially the wild blueberries have a habit of leaving stains and it is pretty hard to wash a basket. Whatever the container may be that carries home the sun warm juicy berries, the result of your hard work of bending your back a hundred times, the berries are worth the sweat.

The cultivated blueberries have a much longer season and can be used instead of the wild ones. Nothing complicated. Here is how it goes.

Wild Blueberry and ricotta "boats"
Ingredients for 6 bigger portions
200g ricotta
2tbsp sugar
1 egg yolk
1 egg white, beaten hard
500g puff pastry, yeast based if available

The cuts in the puff pastry makes it rise at the edges, blueberry-ricotta filling

Instructions:
1. Roll the dough into a 5mm thick layer. Cut into suitable size rectangles.
2. With a sharp knife cut into half the thickness of the dough on all sides, circa 1cm from the edges. This will make the edges rise nicely during baking and keep the filling in the "boats".
3. Mix ricotta, egg yolk, sugar.
4. Separately beat the egg white until hard.
5. Add the egg white to the ricotta mix and combine lightly.
6. Spread a good tablespoon of the ricotta mixture on each "boat", leave the cut edges free from the filling.
7.Place a handful of fresh wild blueberries onto each boat.
8. Bake in the middle of the oven for ca. 20 minutes until the dough has taken on a light brown colour and feels cooked. Tapping lightly on the dough and if it feels crisp is a good sign.

Blueberry Ricotta pastry "boats"

More wild blueberry recipes:
Sweet wild blueberry soup with fluffy semolina dessert
Wild blueberry ricotta cake
Wild blueberry - banana smoothie

1st of August Weggli on the Swiss National Day

1st of August is the Swiss National Day to commemorate the formation of Switzerland in 1291. People can happily enjoy this day as a public holiday surprisingly recently, only since 1994.

Go and pick the flowers fresh from the field yourself, trust in a Swiss way.

The weather has been on our side today, temperatures reaching 30Celsius (86F).
To start the festivities we thought it appropriate to go and pick some gladiolas from the self-service flower field nearby. One picks as many sun flowers, gladiolas, lilies ... or tulips in spring for that matter ... and leaves the right amount of francs in a box at the edge of the field.

It is a tradition that the farmers in the Alps have a brunch on the 1st of August. The same tradition has been brought to the city at the main Cathedral square. Anyone who wishes to climb the the stairs to the Cathedral tower can tank some Swiss energy before or after from a brunch in the morning or a typical Bratwurst throughout the day.

A recycling point for the glasses or plates in the refreshment tent

1st August Weggen, delicious buns

For sure the 1st August Weggli is a must on this day. It is a special soft and buttery bun with a cross cut into it on top and a small Swiss flag. It is simple but actually tastes pretty delicious. And the smell of this small bread is such as wanting to stick my nose into it and take a deep healing breath...or two...before biting into it.I have a bit of a freak flag on breads. 2013 is my year of experimenting with sourdough, but that' a story for another time.

Visitors queueing in front of the Bundeshaus

The Swiss Parliament, the Bundeshaus, is open on this national holiday for anyone who wants to take a peek at the magnificent building, walk in its corridors of power or sit in one of the two halls. On the 1st of August the Swiss chocolate masters are presenting a sweet surprise to the visitors of the Bundeshaus.

The scenic place where Switzerland was "born"

One for all and all for one says the ceiling

A view from a Parliament window opens to the public pool of the Swiss capital

A rather small and modest cafe in the Parliament building in Bern

There are circa 40 chocolates to choose from, a gift from the Swiss choclatiers

There are various celebrations throughout the day everywhere. The cream on the top of the celebration is the fireworks at night, in 6 scenes and the spectacle goes on for about 20 minutes. I believe it is now sponsored by some of the big companies as nowadays it is pretty hard to organise fireworks for the tax payers´ hard earned money.
The most memorable sight is the smiley design at the very end. Everyone will rember that with a somile on their own face. Unfortunately it was impossible to hit the button on my camera at the right moment to capture that smiley.

1st August Fireworks in Bern 2013

1. August Feuerwerk, Bern 2013

Refreshing mojito, alcohol free

A top rank alcohol free cocktail with green lime and peppermint leaves

The best friends are those who you can just go and knock on their door without arranging the visit for weeks ahead. Sure, sometimes it is useful to plan ahead, but the possibility to drop by a friend´s house after a long day on your feet adds something precious to life´s course.

On one of these hot summer days we landed at our friend M´s place. A man of style. I always have a tingling sense of excitement somewhere inside in anticipation to be treated to a heart throbbing cafe latte, a piece of fine salmon and dill quiche, a piquant plate of pasta, something new, gravitating towards decadence.

This time the welcome rolled into a thirst quenching cocktail that swept the tiredness from our swollen feet and put back the briskness into the sweating mind.

Alcohol-free mojito
Ingredients for 1 cocktail:
Juice of 1 lime (the green one)
1 Tbsp brown sugar
A handful of crushed ice
0.5-1dl cranberry juice
2dl soda water
Fresh peppermint leaves

Squeeze the juice of one lime into a long glass, drop the rest of the lime into the glass too. Add sugar and peppermint leaves and give them a squeeze with a wooden cocktail stick to dissolve the sugar and release the peppermint flavour. Crush the ice with a blender or if no such appliance is near, wrap the ice cubes into a clean kitchen towel and beat the ice with an empty pan for a few times.
Add cranberry juice and soda water.

Serve with a straw.

Spinach, Feta cheese and peppermint pies

Spinach, Feta cheese and fresh peppermint pies

The inspiration to use fresh peppermint in new combinations recently has been ignited by my friends whose garden produces this herb half wildly in massive quantities and a Middle Eastern stand at the farmers´ market that has very generous bunches of Moroccan peppermint.

The minty avocado and new potato salad was a refreshing green light meal a few days ago and chilled cucumber and strawberry soup  was seasoned with fresh peppermint leaves.

Something quick and easy today for a light supper or an idea for an apero table.

Spinach, Feta Cheese and Fresh Peppermint Pies
Ingredients for 4 small pies
Dough
135g flour
40g olive oil
35g water
salt

Filling
100-130g fresh spinach leaves, washed and roughly chopped
olive oil (1 tsp)
100g feta cheese, crumbled
10 peppermint leaves, finely chopped
1 tbsp Greek yoghourt
salt
pepper
2 tsp honey

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (400 F)

Feta cheese and spinach pies flavoured with mint and honey

1. Mix the dough components together. It is good to work the dough by hand until well combined.
2. Set aside until you make the filling.
3. Heat a pan with a little olive oil, 1 teaspoon is enough to wilt the spinach.
4. Place the chopped spinach into the pan and cook on medium heat for a few minutes until the spinach is soft.
5. Press the excess water out of the spinach.
6. Place the crumbled feta cheese into a bowl, add the mint, yoghourt and soft honey. Mix all together, season with salt and pepper.
7. Set 1/3 of the dough aside. Roll the 2/3 of the dough to a 3-4mm flat sheet, cut portions and fit the dough into small pie forms. If needed, place a piece of baking paper at the bottom to prevent sticking. This step is not necessary if you are using already non-sticking forms.
8. Portion the spinach onto the dough and then add a tablespoon of the feta filling on top.
9. Now roll out the remaining dough and portion for covers. It is also fine to leave the pies uncovered. Both versions work well.
10. Bake in the oven for about 30-35 minutes until the dough is cooked.

Serve warm or cold.

Covered or not, the honey, mint and cheese meet in a merry union