fried salsify with black sesame sprouts

whenever my sundays don't work out as planned and i'm left with a couple of hours on hand instead of having to run from a to b, i usually just make up for it by cooking. it's a bit like an addiction, dreaming up dishes and preparing beautiful, fancy ingredients. i fall in love with vegs, time and again. often times, what i find myself particularly attracted to are roots. luckily, i walked past one of my favorite organic whole foods shops on friday night and discovered different types of beautiful roots: pink striped candy beets, chubby parsnips, soil encrusted salsify, bulbous jerusalem artichoke and oddly colored carrots. the basket was easily filled. the mission was pretty clear: roots sunday! ...just as well that i had a cutie friend visiting for dinner... hehe.

let's start with this salsify dish. once they're stripped of their muddy exteriors, the salsify is a really pretty veg. sliced lengthily and fried in gee, the turn out crispy, their flavor intense and nutty, so they don't need much else. they can hold their own ground, so to speak. besides, have you ever tried sesame sprouts? pretty to look at and surprisingly nice in taste. 

fried salsify with black sesame sprouts

ingredients:

3 salsify

1/2 lemon

2 tbsp. ghee (clarified butter) or rapeseed oil

3 tbsp. black sesame sprouts

handful coriander leaves, chopped

1 tsp. black sesame salt

ingredients:

wash and peel the salsify (use gloves), slice each into 3 batons and immediately place in lemon water to stop from browning. bring water to a boil, then blanch the salsify batons for 7 minutes. drain, chill in cold water and slice lengthways. pat the salsify slices dry. heat the ghee in a frying pan. fry the salsify for a couple of minutes until crispy and brown. arrange on a plate, season with black sesame salt, sprinkle with the sesame sprouts and the coriander seeds.

ps: you might have seen my new 'pin it' button already? when you hover over the pictures, a pin it button appears on the upper left corner of each picture. hoping this will fuel your pinterest addiction right (we all know i'm an addict, alright...). 

älplermagronen - swiss mac & cheese - with roasted apple sauce

everyday, i marvel at life. how i'm living my small life here, in this country, in my home, everything i love around me is so well known. sometimes, i wonder what it's like to be someone else. to slip into other minds and lives. it's so inspiring to see the beauty in other people's lives... luckily, the internet provides a good means to an end. so, i'm making sure i get my daily fix of beauty from inspiring people's instagram feeds. they provide glimpses into their everyday, what moves them, their wardrobe and livings rooms, how life through their eyes, sometimes on the other side of the world, looks and feels like. it's humbling. 

so i wonder: would you be interested in getting a feature on my favorite instagrammers and maybe bloggers? shouldn't i share with you what i think of as the best source of inspiration and happiness there is? giving this a proper thought. since normally i prefer to share my own content and pictures and recipes. we could make it sort of a vessel for inspiration, maybe. hmm. thinking aloud. great one.

let's move to the food topic. so, the last supper that i hosted was running under the theme "soirée chalet". i had a lavish, slightly decadent - not rustic, mountainous evening in mind. something a little more glamorous than your ski slope hut french fries and wiener sausage. a night shaped by the sound of clinking glasses, the notion of iceicles reflecting the light of dozens of candles, something utterly swiss - that could just as well take part in a french mountain resort as in aspen. something jet-setty cool and equally cosy. do you get my vision, friends?

so, i opted for the following supper menu here. i must say, it was - from my perspective - the best supper menu i ever created. everything was super simple, yet refined and with a twist, produced from the best, local ingredients, with extra care and love, of course.

supper no. 8 - soirée chalet

mountain style apéro plate of regional sausages & dried meets

quick pickled sellerie with fennel seeds

and home made potato bread

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roasted baby beets with manuka honey & thyme

as well as the roasted beet greens with orange

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herbacious green salad

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mini steak tartar with toast

and of course a tiny cognac

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grisons style barley soup

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truffled älplermagronen (swiss mac & cheese)

with roasted apple sauce

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baked alaska

(from vanilla ice cream)

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decadent chocolate layer cake with caramelized walnuts

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coffee, tee & passion fruit chocolates

it was heaven to cook. i mean the menu, but also just purely in general. i just love standing in the kitchen for hours. it's like therapy, only better. so, for all my american readeres: älplermagronen is actually something typical swiss, kind of a poor people's meal. it's not very far from the american mac & cheese version. except that we add potatoes to the mac and that we eat it with a sweet apple sauce on the side (no kidding). the swiss mountain people's pantry used to be rather limited. but some things were never out of stock: maccaroni, lots of potatoes, cream (fresh from the cows, of course), cheese (likewise) and apples. so, this dish was kind of a staple decades ago. and still, to day, it's a favorite (at least of mine). i added some freshly shaved truffle on top and also some truffle to the cream, to add a special day kick.

the soup can be found here already. and the passion fruit chocolates here. everything else from the menu will be featured here, in due time.

älplermagronen - swiss mac & cheese - with roasted apple sauce

serves four

ingredients for the mac & cheese:

500 g maccaroni pasta (ideally non rigata)

2 large potatoes, peeled and diced

2 garlic cloves, mashed

2 cups cream

2/3 cup vacherin (or other creamy, melty) cheese, grated

2/3 cup gruyère (or other full bodied cheese)

3 tbsp. butter

1 tsp. truffle paste

musc, salt, pepper to taste

fresh truffle, if desired

directions:

cook the maccaroni according to directions in enough salted water, adding the diced potatoes to the water 5 minutes before the maccaroni are done. in the meantime, prepare the cream: put cream in a bowl, add truffle paste and season with garlic, salt, pepper and musc (remember that the cheese will add some saltiness, as well, so don't oversalt). drain the pasta and potatoes, then immediately add butter so they don't stick together. in an oven proof pan layer the mac and cheese. start with a layer of the maccaroni, pour over some of the cream mix, then scatter some of the cheeses over. repeat until everything is used up. cover the pan with foil, then bake at 180c / 350f for about 20 to 30 minutes, until heated through (the top should not turn crispy and dry, so don't over bake). serve with a fresh shaving of truffle and a side of roasted apple sauce.

note: some swiss like their älplermagrone with caramelized or crispy fried onions. i, however, opted for a luxury version with truffle, this time around. here you can find a previous take on the traditional swiss dish, by the way.

ingredients for the roasted apple sauce:

6 (tangy, firm) apples (i used boskoop), cored but peel on

2 cinnamon sticks

1 cup apple juice

3 tbsp. sugar

more sugar and ground cinnamon, to taste

directions:

place the cored apples in an oven proof pan. pour the apple juice into the pan so that it lightly covers the base. add cinnamon sticks to the juice. dust the apples with sugar. roast at 220c / 400f for about 30 minutes or until the apples are tender. let cool, then sieve apples with peels on through a passevite (food mill) - the apples' peels will remain in the sieve. sweeten to taste with a little more sugar and cinnamon, if desired. serve as a side to the maccaroni.

layer cake teaser

i spent all of saturday cooking, baking, styling, dreaming up and taking pictures of baked goods. actually, nothing new, right? technically yes. but it's a new project i would like to announce. a cooperation, of sorts, between a very talented photographer friend (more about her soon) of mine and me. meaning: while i was baking up a storm in my (tiny) kitchen, christine was working her magic behind the lens. the purpose? we just wanted to come up with beautiful scenes for you, really. more, more, more of the goodness, hehe. so, this chocolate and salted caramel layer cake that i hastily shot here a couple of weeks back before i had to deliver it to a birthday party was baked up again (because it was really good to begin with) and shot in plain and utter patience, this time. and then we ate it. hehe. so, this sunday, there's just this teaser for you, and the promise for more. happy sunday evening! 

the pile of fantastic vichy plates, as per usual, by en soie. thank you, thank you, thank you. also, do you spot my new mobile there? oops, that wasn't on purpose. and then, there are spring flowers and bulbs. spring is near, i can smell it and am thankful for new chances.

mom's salad formula

vichy plates from en soie

friendsies! i've been down with the flu for the past four days, and it's bloody annoying, to say the least. i first thought this is just a bit of a cold, but, nope... no such luck. my nose is awfully sore and red and my eyes look like they belong to someone who's been soaking in chlorine water for the past 17 hours straight (head under water, eyes open). it's not a fine sight. like my friend carol of milk and mode - whose recent flu resulted in healthier eating resolutions, btw - so nicely put it: i shall live to tell the tale. and finally, i see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

oh, and this here is a sample post on the topic of my mom's salads. my mom's salads are famous they have converted people from no-salad-eaters to leaf-loving rabbits, no kidding. but, what, you ask, is her secret formula for success? well, derived from my 30 years of experience (in eating my mom's salads, that is), i'd conclude the following four success factors: 

color + crunch + creaminess + citrus = perfect salad

of course, the formula could be extended to: leaves, fruits, nuts, surprise ingredients, herbs, proteins, blaa... but, really, it's that simple: color, crunch, creaminess, citrus. but, of course, i'll explain.

color. color means, simply, get inspired by color! anything out of the ordinary leafy greens is welcome on my plate. think radicchio, radish, funnily colored carrots, grapes, pomegranate aerials to shake things up, sprouts or purple basil. color set the main tone for this salad version here, as we used four brilliant jewel-colored ingredients: purple radicchio, red and green beet leaves, emerald field salad and vibrant amber colored kaki cubes. anything that adds a pop of color is good. 

crunch. crunch means, you should make sure there is a crunchy element in the salad, as well. if you, for example, decide to make an avocado-tomato salad, you could try to shake things up with some crunchy, toasted pine nuts or sunflower seeds. get it? 

creaminess. simple, as it's the opposite of crunch, really (no brainer). just think that when you only have crunchy fennel or raw beets, it might be nice to think creamy. maybe in the shape of a few feta crumbles, or you might want to switch the dressing to something creamy, for example a tahini yoghurt dressing. 

citrus. one of my favorite ingredients for almost anything is citrus. lemons, lemons, lemons! it's a love story. so, how do we add citrus to our salads? pretty easy: go all out on it! peel it, squeeze it, slice it... we always add a little lemon zest (use organic lemons, please) and the juice of one lemon (instead of vinegar). if you want less acidity and more sweetness, switch up the lemon for an orange for the lemon. 

the dressing is something else, of course... there are many different salads on fork and flower that i can refer you to. though i just know and love and use the one. which is - tadaah! - my mom's dressing, consisting of lemon juice, zest and olive oil, essentially. for more details, go here - dandelion & sorrel salad or here - green salad with beech tree leaves. both salads let you in on my mom's famous salad dressing (plus / minus - there has to be a tiny bit of secrecy left, else, no one would bother coming for dinner anymore, huh. or ask me, very kindly, i'll try and see what i can do...). 

cheers, loves! enjoy the evening and sleep tight (i'm sure i will, thanks to the drugs cocktail). 

nun's lebkuchen

hello, weekend! well, have i ever really told you about the place where i grew up? near lucerne (which, btw, is only the most beautiful city in switzerland, sorry, zurich)? where the mountains flow into the lakes. in primary school, i had to walk 3km to school and back, twice a day. oh, and we had cows in our backyard. so, naturally, we spent a lot of time out and about when we were young. i remember expeditions to the nearby creek, with my polka dotted rubber boots. i remember knowing the trees and bushes and grasses and flowers by heart. i remember eating beechnuts straight from the trees, finding wild garlic, baskets full of chestnuts, wild herbs like mantel and wild mushrooms in the fall. i remember eating raspberries and apples and cherries and red curratns straight from the trees and bushes, while they were still warm from the sunshine. my feet were never really clean, but they were familiar with the sensation of cool, humid grass on naked soles (and occasionally, a stray slug, iewww...). we wanted to stay up as long as the sun was up, or longer. a new pile of street chalk kept me busy for a day. the neighborhood was my playground. it was bliss. 

those are the memories i associate with my childhood and growing up on the countryside. this  gingerbread like cake shaped or sized as cookies - since they were intended to be given away as  provisions for the road for my supper guests last week - is a recipe from the convent in the canton in which i live. the nuns there have a stock of home made goods, and, well, lebkuchen must be part of it, since it's a local favorite. i love food that triggers good memories. i can almost feel my childhood with these. 

nun's lebkuchen

ingredients: 

500 g sugar

500 g pear honey

1.4 kg flour

30 g gingerbread spice

20 g bakers' ammonia (available at drugstores)

3 dl milk

200 hazelnuts, coarsely chopped

200 g sultanas

glaze:

2 cups confectioners' sugar

4 cl milk

1 lemon, zest

directions:

combine sugar and pear honey in a small saucepan, and warm until sugar is dissolved. put the flour, gingerbread spice, hazelnuts and sultanas in a bowl. dissolve the bakers' ammonia in the milk. add the milk and sugar-honey mix to the dry flour. combine to a dough (this will need a little kneading). let the dough rest for 2 hours. roll out the dough to about 1cm thickness and cut out circles of about 15cm in size. put them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. if you like, press in a star or heart shape with a cookie cutter. bake at 160c / 320f for 25 to 30 minutes (depending on size). note: the lebkuchen will still be soft when coming from the oven but will harden later, so make sure not to overbake. 

while baking, prepare the glaze with the confectioners' sugar, a little milk and the lemon zest. brush the lebkuchen while still warm. let cool and dry. 

ps: a special thanks to en soie in zurich for kindly offering me to borrough their beautiful, classy vichy plates for the occasion of my last fork and flower supper with the 'soirée chalet' theme. your vichy plates make everything more beautiful. sighs. i'll post the menu and more pictures of it here asap. xx

passion fruit chocolates

coucou lovers! it's the first night in a long time that i'm having a date with myself. and germany's next top model is on on tv, starting tonight, so just in time (i admit i'm a big fan of heidi, team heidi, whoopwhoop!). maybe i'll read into the wee hours too. something feels like weekend tonight. i'm having a hard time lowering my euphoria today, haha. 

those beautiful, messy, sinful little truffles, they're really delicious. refreshing, almost. surprisingly sour and sweet and fruity. exotic. strange. creamy and rich. light and fluffy? sighs. i can't describe them properly. they're something i will keep on my "must make again" list. and we all know not many things are on there, as, let's be honest, there are simply too many tempting delicacies worth trying out there... yeah, yeah. passion fruit chocolates get another chance at wooing.

passion fruit chocolates

makes between 35 - 40 pieces

ingredients:

225 g dark chocolate

225 g nut nougat 

12 passion fruits, pulp (i used less since they were really big) update: 6 passion fruits pulps are more than enough it seems (from readers' feedbacks)

6 tbsp. honey

1 tbsp. sugar

80 g butter, room temperature

6 tbsp. dark, unsweetened cocoa powder

6 tbsp. dessicated coconut

directions:

coarsely chop the chocolate and nougat and melt together in a saucepan on very low heat. half the passion fruits and extract the pulp with a spoon. strain through a fine meshed sieve so that the seeds can be discarded. now combine the honey, sugar and passion fruit pulp in a saucepan, keep stirring, until the sugar is dissolved. combine the sugar fruit mix with the chocolate nougat mix, combine well, then mix in the butter. leave to cool in the fridge for at least 2 hours. roll the chocolate mix into tiny balls, then roll in a mixture of cocoa and coconut. cool until served. 

sunday cooking with anikou - winter salad

i'm always one for entertaining guests on a sunday, since it's a day where that usually comes with not a lot of activities, so there's even more time for leisurely prepping and chats. so when the lovely anina of the style blog anikou suggested we cook together as part of a shared blog project, i was immediately up for it. i didn't know what to expect, but figured someone who shared my love of food must be a good sports, come what may. so we found a date and that was it. anina arrived at my door step and i was immediately taken in by her natural beauty, carefreeness and broad smile. serious case of hair envy, too, but that's a different story (i secretly hope she will reveal the secret - there must be a secret, surely - for her mane on her blog, sooner rather than later). 

we immediately clicked as food bloggers - and set to prepare our casual sunday salad of fennel, avocado, passion fruit and hemp seeds. no, wait! first, we created a little mess. we call that 'ingredient shoot', us food bloggers, ahem. so we lovingly arranged parsley and carefully scattered hemp seeds and moved passion fruit halves 2mm over and rearranged fennel bulbs until we were happy with our 'ingredients mess' still life. that was followed by standing on tables to take the perfect picture and commenting on each other's shots. it was a perfect symbiosis between two strangers, a mutual understanding, something that can only happen when you're sharing the same passion.

thank you for visiting, anina, thank you for the chat and for infecting me with your youthful love of things and fresh perspectives. your talent and passion already at this age are impressive. no doubt, you will be a success wherever you go. last but not least, thank you for inspiring a dull sunday. 

to see more pictures - or, rather, anina's version of our sunday winter salad lunch - go here. 

winter salad of fennel, avocado & hemp seeds

ingredients:

2 fennels

1 avocado

1 handful watercress

2 lemons

1 bunch parsley

1 passion fruit

2 tbsp. hemp seeds

4 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. avocado oil

2 tsp. maldon sea salt

directions: 

start by preparing the parsley oil: coarsely chop the parsley, put it in a food blender and add the olive oil and pulse until smooth (use more olive oil if needed). put aside. wash the fennels and finely slice vertically. immediately marinate with the juice of one lemon, in order to prevent them from turning brown. put aside. half the avocados, remove each half with a large spoon, then slice finely. proceed by sprinkling over the juice of the second lemon, for the same reason. the rest is simple: assemble. distribute the fennel slices on the plate, arrange the avocado slices on top. drizzle the passion fruit pulp over the salad, scatter some watercress leaves and hemp seeds on top. add a drizzle of the parsley oil and the avocado oil. finish by seasoning with maldon sea salt. serve. 

pastel things

there is a crack in everything. this is how the light gets in. sings leonard cohen. there is so much beauty in the flaws. these here are a couple of my favorite pastel things: ladurée macaroons (a gift from one of my oldest friends who joined the supper yesterday), the ladurée sucré cookbook (also a gift from a  dear friend), baby's breath (a gift from my new blogger friend anina - you'll soon read more about this), some jewelry (cheap but bling) casually draped across my astier de villatte faillance bowl, my favorite plate in pale pink vichy check from en soie (those plates make me so happy), fresh spring blooms (the smell is divine) and my brand-new champagne colored glasses (yup, a gift, that one, too. these are from my sweet friends kili and pete, they make glasses now). conclusion: the best things in life are gifts. i only know one thing: that those tiny compilations make me happy. they don't last, they never do. but that's the beauty in it. it's not meant to last. so all that's left to do is to enjoy the moment and the flaws.