Warming winter recipes from Switzerland

Whether you're heading for the Alps, or hunkering down at home, Swiss food feels right for this time of year - and it ties in with this month's Eating Out account of a spectacular Swiss sausage feast. Here's a selection of typical Swiss recipes for the winter months.

A bunch of vitamins and proteins for midwinter - earthy/crunchy kohlrabi, sharp shaved cheese and pungent Bündnerfleisch. It’s worth seeking out Sbrinz for this - a superb hard cheese from central Switzerland, not unlike Parmesan.

• Trim and peel the kohlrabi very thoroughly, discarding any hard, woody bits
• Slice very thinly, then cut the slices in strips
• Put in a colander, sprinkle with salt and leave in the sink for 2-3 hours to release some of their juice
• Cut the Bündnerfleisch into thin strips
• Take shavings of Sbrinz or Grana off the cheese using a potato peeler
• Arrange the kohlrabi on a nice plate, scatter the meat strips and cheese shavings over
• Shake together all the ingredients for the vinaigrette in a jam jar until emulsified and thick
• Pour it over the salad and toss all the ingredients together
• Serve with crusty bread

The Swiss make magnificent sausages (go to this month’s Eating Out for a tale of a great sausage feast that takes place every February on the shores of Lake Biel and Lake Neuchâtel). Here’s a favourite winter sausage dish, simple, robust and completely memorable: thickly sliced smoked sausages (in Switzerland a Saucisson Vaudois is the traditional one), waxy potatoes and leeks simmered in a little white wine and enriched with a little crème fraîche.

• Trim, wash and slice the leeks thickly
• Soften them with the onion in the oil, seasoning lightly
• Add the wine and stock and simmer for about 10 minutes
• Peel and cut the potatoes in good chunks, add them to the pan and simmer for about 10 minutes or until barely cooked
• Prick the sausage and set it on top of the vegetables
• Lower the heat, cover the pan and cook gently for about 20 minutes
•  Lift out the sausage and slice it thickly on a slant
• Stir the cream into the vegetables and lay the sausage slices on top

If you can’t find (or don’t like) veal, use pork tenderloin fillets instead. The searing of the meat and the preparation of the mushroom sauce can be done a little ahead. Mix the meat into the sauce just before serving.

• Heat the oven to 80C and warm some plates and a serving dish
• Dust the meat in seasoned flour and shake off any excess flour in a colander
• Heat half the butter and oil in a large, heavy frying pan and sear the meat briefly in several batches until lightly golden, turning once. Do not overcook.
• Lift the meat out with a slotted spoon as it is ready and put on the serving dish in the oven to keep warm
• Melt the remaining butter and oil in the pan and soften the onion or shallot gently without allowing it to brown
• Add the sliced mushrooms, sprinkle with lemon juice, season to taste, cover and cook gently for 5 minutes
• Remove the lid, raise the heat and cook till the juices have evaporated
• Add the wine and cook hard until reduced almost completely
• Stir in the stock and cream and simmer gently for about 10 minutes
• Check the seasoning, correcting if necessary
• At the last minute, return the meat briefly to the pan and allow it to heat through gently in the sauce

Be sure to use firm, waxy potatoes for this dish (Charlotte, Nicola, Rattes, BF15), or new potatoes in season. If you use floury (mashing-type) potatoes you’ll end up with a mush.

• Cook the potatoes in their skins till barely tender – about 20 minutes, depending on size
• Allow them to cool, then refrigerate for several hours or overnight
• Peel and grate the potatoes coarsely using a cheese grater or the grating disc of a food processor
• Mix with salt and pepper
• Warm a serving plate for the Rösti
• Heat half the butter and oil in a large, non-stick, heavy-based frying pan
• Tip the potatoes into the pan and press down with a spatula to make a nice, thick potato cake
• Adjust the heat so that the underside cooks steadily to a rich golden brown
• Take a look underneath - when one side is done, invert a plate over the pan and turn the Rösti out
• Heat the remaining butter and oil in the pan and shunt the Rösti back into the pan, crusty side uppermost
• Cook the second side in the same way until golden brown
• Turn the Rösti out onto the warmed serving plate
• Serve in wedges with the meat

The Swiss are masters at fruit tarts - this one has grated apples  mixed with ground almonds or hazelnuts, sugar and butter, and is baked in a fragile puff pastry case.

• Roll out (or unravel) the pastry to fit a 30cm quiche tin with removable base
• Line the tin with the pastry and refrigerate it while you prepare the filling
• Heat the oven to 200C and put a heavy black baking sheet on the shelf in the hottest part of the oven (this varies, depending on the type of oven used)
• Peel and grate the apples and put them in a mixing bowl
• Add half the ground nuts and the sugar and mix well
• Spread the rest of the ground nuts into the pastry case
• Add the apple mixture and scatter the butter dots on top
• Slide the tart onto the baking sheet and bake for at least 10 minutes or until the base of the pastry is just cooked through and lightly golden – lift it up to see and if necessary, bake a bit longer
• Reduce the heat to 180C and continue baking for 20-25 minutes more or until the edges of the pastry and the filling are nicely golden
• Serve tepid with ice cream

A wonderful choccy cake from my friend Charlotte in Basel, rich with ground almonds and dark chocolate, gorgeous either as a dessert, or with coffee or tea. For best results use a dark chocolate with a high cacao content (60% minimum). The cake must be prepared ahead - up to two days, in order for the flavours to mellow. It stays wonderfully moist and it freezes well. Set it on your best white plate and serve in small wedges, as it's very rich.

• Heat the oven to 170oC
• Cut a disc of baking parchment to fit the bottom of a 26cm springform cake tin
• Butter and flour the sides, knock away any excess flour
• Break the chocolate in squares and melt it with the butter over very gentle heat in a heavy pan, stirring until smooth
• Remove from the heat and stir in the yolks, ground almonds and optional spirit
• Put the whites in a large mixing bowl with a pinch of salt
• Beat them until they hold soft peaks
• Still beating, sprinkle on the sugar in a steady stream
• Continue beating a few minutes more until the mixture looks like meringue
• Spoon two tablespoons of whites into the chocolate-almond mixture to get it going in the right direction
• Then carefully cut and fold in the rest, taking care not to squash out the air
• Tip the mixture into the prepared tin and bake the cake for 30-35 minutes or until well risen, no longer wobbly when nudged, and just firm to the touch
• It can afford to be underdone - it should be moist
• Cool it in the tin, then release the springform and set a cake rack on top
• Invert the cake, peel away the bottom paper
• Put the cake on a plate, decorate as wished

Cheese fondue is usually made with a mixture of cheeses. In this recipe the Gruyère gives flavour, the Emmental richness and the Vacherin melts smoothly. Start out heating the cheese in its earthenware caquelon (pan) on a gas or electric hob, and then transfer the pan to a spirit burner.

• Cut the bread in good chunks and put in a basket
• Put all the prepared cheese in the fondue pan with the garlic, wine, lemon juice and nutmeg
• Mix the cornflour into the Kirsch and stir until smooth, add to the pan, bring the cheese very gently to the boil, stirring continuously in a figure of eight, and simmer for 3-4 minutes
• Season with pepper and bring to the table
• Serve with the cubes of crusty bread

Another robust and delicious supper dish of elbow macaroni, potatoes, bacon bits and cream, great for après-ski. In Switzerland it would traditionally be served with apple sauce; a salad makes a nice alternative accompaniment.

An absolute Swiss classic, originally created by Dr Bircher-Benner for patients at his clinic in Zurich at the turn of the century. His prototype was quite spartan, and it included sweetened condensed milk which is not to everyone’s taste nowadays. Here’s an updated version.

• Mix together the oats and the water or orange juice and leave for a few minutes till the juice is absorbed
• Stir in the remaining ingredients and let the Birchermüesli rest for at least 15 minutes
• Garnish with fresh fruit if wished