My first spring in Switzerland!

My street is surrounded by nature; each week brings new surprises in terms of plants and flowers, flowers that come in rainbow of colors.

When you live in a big city, as I used to do, spring’s arrival is much more subtle and less impactful than when you live so close to the countryside as I do now.

With the new season and its warmer temperatures entertaining is moving outside; dishes are lighter and more colorful. It is a great time to call friends to come over and try some new seasonal dishes.

I miss teatime in London, where I used to live, because it is a place where you can see all the creativity that goes into preparing a great variety of teatime “menus”, not only at high-end hotels, but also in smaller coffee shops.

The challenge is that some of these treats are quite sweet. If you are like me and can’t resist tasting everything that is on the plate in front of you, the calorie count can be overwhelming!

For the outdoor teatime menu, I am going to share with you, I made classic mini-egg sandwiches with dill, choux profiteroles filled with rose cream, and fruit skewers with lemon-grass syrup.

Because we are now coming to the time-of-year when fresh fruits are becoming more abundant, I am adding them to my menu to bring freshness and vibrant colors.

This treats are also appropriate for an Apero, a Swiss form of socializing that includes finger-food and a glass of drink.

Egg Sandwiches (around 12 petite sandwiches)

• 8 slices of wheat bread
• 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons of chopped fresh dill
• salt and pepper

1. Put the eggs into a saucepan and cover with cold water.
2. Bring to boil, then immediately lower the heat and simmer for 10 min. Never boil the eggs.
3. Put cooked eggs into cold water to stop cooking process and peel.
4. In a small bowl mesh them well with a fork.
5. Add two tablespoons of mayonnaise and one teaspoon of chopped dill to the eggs. Season with salt and pepper and mix well.
6. Divide the filling on one side of bread slices, and then top with other slices.
7. Cover with cling film and place in the fridge if not serving within one hour.
8. When ready to assemble, cut of the crust with serrated knife and then cut the sandwiches into small squares.
9. I like to use small square cutters.
10. Just before serving dissolve butter in a small pot and add one teaspoon of dill.
11. Lightly apply butter mixture on top of each sandwich using a small kitchen brush.

• 1 ripe mango
• 1 lime
• 1/2 watermelon
• 1 honeydew melon
•  lychees (10-12), peeled and pitted
• fresh mint (optional)
• 12 bamboo skewers

1. You can first remove the skin with a serrated knife before cutting the mango or first cut mango into two halves and then remove the skin. If the mango is not  too soft  you can use a peeler.
2. Slice the flash of mango by placing the knife slightly away from the center and cut downwards. Repeat on the other side.
3. Cut the flesh lengthways into strips, then crossways into squares.
4. Squeeze a little lime juice over the mango to prevent discoloring.
5. Peel and take the pits out of the lychee. If fresh lychee are not available use caned ones in syrup.
6. Cut the cantaloupe and the watermelon. Remove the seeds and scoop-out the flash with a melon baller.
7. Thread the pieces of fruit on the skewers; in between pieces of fruit you can decorate with fresh mint.
8. Arrange them in small transparent glasses.
9. Put little bit of lemon grass syrup over.

Lemon grass syrup

• 1 lemon grass stem, bruised
•  80 gr granular sugar
• 135 g water
• juice of one lime

1. Place sugar, lime juice and water in a saucepan on low heat until sugar dissolves.
2. Bring to boil, add  lemon grass stem and cook for three minutes or little longer if you want thicker syrup.
3. Cool. Put into refrigerator overnight.

Choux profiteroles with a rose cream

 

•  55 g  butter
• 170 ml water
• 55 g plain flour
• 3 eggs, beaten
• a pinch of salt
• 200 ml double cream
• 2 teaspoon rose-water
• 1 tablespoon icing sugar
• 1 tablespoon dry rose petals

1. Preheat the oven to 200 C.
2. Sift the flour with a pinch of salt.
3. Put butter and water in a saucepan and melt the butter over medium heat.
4. Increase the heat and bring it to boil.
5. As soon as the liquid boils add the sifted flour in one go. Remove from the heat and with a wooden spoon mix quickly until mixture is smooth and leaves the sides of the pan. Don’t  overbeat.
6. Spread the mixture on the plate, until it cools slightly, about 10-15min.
7. When cooled put the mixture into the bowl of an electric mixer.
8. Incorporate eggs a little bit at-a- time so that each addition is well incorporated. In the beginning mixture may look like it is splitting. Continue mixing until smooth and glossy.
9. Put the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a  nozzle ( I used 8mm ) and pipe small chouxs buns 3-4 cm size on a nonstick baking paper. I like a thin silicone sheet that you can reuse and is easily available.
10. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the choux buns are golden and firm.
11. Place them on a wire rack to cool.
12. Whisk double cream with rose water and icing sugar.
13. Cut the tops of the pastry cases.
14. Put the cream into a piping bag with a small nozzle and pipe into the pastry cases.
15. Ground some of the rose leafs using paste and mortar.
16. Dust choux  profiterloes with icing sugar and sprinkle with ground rose leafs.

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A couple of weeks after moving to Switzerland my attention was drawn to a beautiful, rustic looking , Romertopf clay pot.

Cooking in clay is one of the oldest methods of preparing food and I am a big fan of slow cooking, so i decided to buy it and try-it-out, because it wasn’t that expensive.

The one I bought is partially glazed. It is recommended to soak the pot in water 10 -15 min before each use.

My first experiment was with chicken, later I will try with other meals. I like it served with a crunchy kohlrabi salad.

I tried a lot of different temperature variations and I achieved the best results with following recipe:

Chicken 

• 1×1.35kg / 3lb
• 12 baby carrots
• 12 baby potatoes
• 2 springs of fresh thyme
• batter softende
• salt and pepper
• vegetable oil

1. Soak the clay pot in water for 10-15min.
2. Season inside of the chicken with salt and pepper and put two springs of thyme.
3. Smear a little butter all over the chicken and season with salt and pepper.
4. Put the potatoes and the carrots in a bowl and cover lightly with oil and season.
5. Place chicken in the clay pot and surround with the carrots and potatoes. You don’t need to add any liquid.
6. Close the lid and put in a cold oven.
7. Turn the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Cook for one hour and fifty minutes.
8. Check is it done by making a small cut to see if the juices run clear. If not cook for an additional couple minutes.

Do not place the hot clay pot on a cold surface, I place it on a wooden board. Don’t tie the legs, the chicken will cook more evenly, you can tie them later for presentation.

You can cook the baby carrots separately. It will add better color to the dish.

Baby carrots

1. Trim the ends.
2. Put the carrots into cold water and cover. Slowly bring to boil and reduce to simmer.
3. Cook until tender 7-8 min and pierce with a knife to check if ready.
4. Drain and serve with chicken and potatoes.

Kohlrabi salad

• 2 kohlrabi
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• pinch of salt
• ground pepper

1. Make the dressing. Whisk olive oil with little bit of salt and pepper.
2. Peel the kohlrabi. Use a mandolin to get thin slices, and then cut them into matchsticks.
3. Lightly spoon dressing over kohlrabi, and toss to coat well.