Odds and ends for my 365 friends

Schwiizer Rüebliturtä

200 g carrots, grated
1 Apple, without peel, grated

300 g ground almonds or hazelnuts (hazelnuts would be classic, but I use almonds)

100 g flour

1 tsp baking powder

4 eggs, separated

3/4 cup maple syrup (or 1 cup of sugar and only 75 g flower)

1 shot kirsch

24 cm springform pan and baking paper

- Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F.
 
- Mix the almonds, flour, baking powder.
 
- In an extra bowl, whisk together the 4 egg yolks and sugar/maple syrup until you get a pale, yellow paste. Add the shot of kirsch and whisk well.
 
- In another large bowl, whisk the 4 egg whites until stiff. You know how the test works. 😉
 
- Mix the grated carrots/apple into the yolk and sugar paste, then fold in the dry ingredients. Finally, gently add in the beaten egg whites
 
- Line the pan with baking paper, this cake is moist and can be very sticky.
 
- Spread all into the pan.
 
- Bake for 55-60 minutes.
 
- After baking and when cooled down, dust it with powdered sugar and add some marzipan carrots. (Mix white marzipan with one drop of yellow and one drop of red food colouring, knead well and form carrots. If not available in the stores.)
 

Hope you will love it.

Cheers Mona

Pizzoccheri are buckwheat noodles cooked with potatoes and cabbage and smothered in a garlic – sage butter and coated with the delicious mountain cheese. This is a recipe that is my little variation of Puschlaver Pizzoccheri.

Serves 4

Because this pasta is made with buckwheat flour and originally has no eggs, it is a little tricky. But don’t be discouraged if the noodles break. This is a rustic dish and the noodles are not meant to be perfect.

For the pasta

1. 100 g buckwheat flour
2. 75 g flour
3. 1/2 cup water
4. 1 spoon extra virgin olive oil
5. You can add an egg, then it is easier and the dough get’s smoother. Just use less water.

To finish

1.  1 small green (savoy) cabbage
2. 2 medium potatoes, cut into cubes
3. 75g butter
4. 1 garlic clove
5. 10 fresh sage leaves
6. 100 g grated cheese (please use a good one. I use a ripe, hard mountain cheese like Gruyere. Originally Casera cheese is used.)
7. Salt and freshly ground black pepper

 For the pasta

1. Mix the pasta ingredients together and knead for 5 minutes until you have a firm dough. Cover with a cloth and let rest for one hour before rolling out the pasta thinly with a rolling pin. Use plenty of flour on your table and the pin, so it does not stick.
   
2. Cut into tagliatelle noodles about 1 cm wide, then cut each noodle crosswise into pieces ca. 6 cm long.

To finish

1.  Before you start cooking, place a large serving bowl in the oven to warm.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.
3. Add the potatoes to the boiling water and cook them for about 2 minutes.
4. Shred the cabbage.
5. Add the pasta and the cabbage, let the water return to a boil and cook for another 3 minutes.
6. While the pasta cooks, melt the butter over moderately high heat and sauté the garlic for about 2 minutes, don’t let it colour.
7. Add the sage leaves and remove from the heat.
8. Drain the pasta and vegetables and turn into the serving bowl.
9. Remove the garlic from the butter, add the seasoned butter, stir well and then add the cheese.
10. Stir. The cheese will melt into the hot pasta and vegetables.
11. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

Notes

1. If you don’t want to make the pasta by yourself, look for dried pizzoccheri noodles in a specialty Italian shop, or use plain dried pasta. Choose a wide noodle such as pappardelle or tagliatelle.
2. If you are using store-bought pasta, cook according to package directions. The potatoes need about 8 minutes to cook, the cabbage about 2, so add the pasta accordingly.

Enjoy!

I personally liked the lower antilope canyon better, as we had plenty of time and total quitness to admire and photograph this magic place. For me the chattering of  people can really destroy such a once in a lifetime experience. BTW, this is on of my top ten travel experiences I ever had. Only topped by animal encounters, like snorkeling with whale sharks, seeing humback whales breach or a fight between wolf and blackbear in Alaska,...
Only thing I would have liked to know before entering the slot, ...how to cope with "white balance" or you shoot RAW. For not fumbling with it, down there in the slot. And yes, a tripod is a must.

(for conversion see link above)

You need for a springform pan (diameter 20 cm)

75 g                  butter
175 g                crude or white sugar
1 pinch             salt
3                       eggs
1                       zests of an untreated lemon
100 ml              cream

150 g                grounded almonds
200 g                flour
1 teaspoon       baking powder
8-10                  stalks fresh rhubarb

How it's done (very easy):

1. Using vegetable peeler, slice some of the rhubarb long-ways. You need about 24 nice slices, all a bit longer then the diameter of your springform pan.  

2. Ad a tiny amount of water in a pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce to simmer, and add the slices of rhubarb. Cook (blanch) just for a short time (1 minute or so), so they are slightly softened. Then drain on paper towels and put them aside.

3. Chop the rest of the rhubarb in tiny chunks.

4. Beat butter till creamy, add sugar, salt, eggs and lemon zests and beat till the whole mass becomes lighter in colour. Add cream.

5. Mix almonds, flour and baking powder in a bowl and add the egg mass. Pour in the buttered springform pan. Now you add the rhubarb chunks (if you do it this way not all of them will sink on the ground of the mass, and you will not have sticky mass on your slices while waving the topping) and smooth the surface.

To make the Rhubarb Lattice Topping:

6. Line up slices of cooked rhubarb side-by-side on top of the cake. Fold alternating slices up, and place perpendicular slices over, in a lattice pattern.  Repeat until you covered the entire top of the tart.

Cut off the overhanging pieces.

Back for about 45-55 minutes at 180°C

Enjoy!

You need for one baking sheet / tray (our size)

3 fresh egg whites (about 90g / 3.17oz)

1 pinch of salt

250g/8.8oz powder (icing) sugar

1.5 tablespoon ground cinnamon

350g/12.32oz ground almonds

Secret ingredients (only for my 365 friends, you can do without that):

1 teaspoon cacao powder

some lemon zests, not a lot

grated fresh ginger (little tiny bit)

0.5 tablespoon Kirsch (or fresh lemon juice)

How it's done:

1. Whip egg whites with the salt until stiff

2. Add the powdered sugar (I always sift the sugar, so you will not have lumps (or what ever you call these in english)

3. Remove 6 tablespoons of this mixture for the glace and put it covered in the refrigerator.

4. Mix cinnamon powder, almonds, and the rest of the ingredients in the remaining egg white mass to form a dough.

To form:

Roll out dough portions about 1 cm thick on little sugar (no flour!), or between a plastic bag. Cut out stars of the size about 3-4 cm, place the molds/cutters repeatedly in sugar to prevent sticking. Place the stars on a tray which is lined with baking paper.

Glazing:

Place a little icing in the center of the stars and pull with a wooden skewer into the tips.

Drying:

Dry at room temperature for about 6 hours or overnight.

Baking:

Baking for 5-7 minutes at 200°C (392°F). They are done, when the outer tips of the stars will be light brown, but the cookie is still soft in the center. Remove and cool on wire racks. As they do not contain flour, they don’t take long.

You can keep them in an air proof container for 2-3 weeks. Add an apple and the soften again, if they are hard.

At our place you get the first Christmas cookies at Christmas Eve (24.12. evening), what is the date we celebrate Christmas.

Enjoy!