The age-old Geneva and Savoyard specialty called rzulé in the local dialect, better known today as rissole aux poires, was nearly extinct not so very long ago. The dish consists basically of pears braised until they caramelize, which are then used to fill a pastry. The result resembles a fried apple turnover or chausson, even though it is baked.

Very Easy Kitchen's beautiful photo of pear rissoles.

The nearly extinct Marlioz pear saved by Geneva woman

You don’t just use any old pear to make rissoles. You use a variety specific to the region: the Marlioz pear, which was saved by none other than Eliane Pottu, says La Tribune de Genéve. Jérôme Estèbe wrote a delightful feature, in French, on the fortunate revival of this dish. Traditionally, every family in canton Geneva and the Savoy had a couple of Marlioz pear trees in the garden, but this tradition has slowly dwindled away.

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What’s in season in the Lake Geneva region

The Lake Geneva region offers an interesting mix of spring, summer and fall fruit and vegetables at this time of year. It is surprising what a variety of local fruit and vegetables are still available this late in the growing season.

We plan to publish MarketView every week or so so you can take a look at our list before you go to the market.  It should serve as a tool to help you make your grocery list and menus for the week before you go off to the market.

Since there is such a large variety at the moment, I’ve separated the list into categories.

Spring and summer fruit and vegetables

Aubergine/eggplant, tomatoes, cucumbers, courgette/zucchini, green beans, radishes, bell peppers of all colors.

Strawberries, corn, raspberries, blackberries (rarer than the other berries).

Rosemary, basil, mint, dill, coriander, parsley, laurel, scallions.

Fall fruit and vegetables

Baby carrots, radishes of all types, new potatoes, Swiss chard (blettes).

Rhubarb, grapes, apples, pears.

Wild greens of all types, mesclun, cabbage, beets.

Plums, peaches, leeks, pumpkin, squash of all types, cauliflower.

Flowers

Potatoes: an essential part of the traditional Swiss diet

If there’s one thing we have plenty of in Switzerland, it’s potatoes. I didn’t even like potatoes before I came here and discovered all the subtle differences of texture, taste and all the ways of using them in cooking.

Potatoes are an essential ingredient in almost any traditional Swiss meal. This year’s crop is already starting to show up in local markets.

Large number of varieties in Switzerland

The official 2007 Swisspatat list (provided by Agridea, the Swiss agricultural research station) includes 31 different varieties, along with lists for various seasons and types of potatoes, as well as recipes for everyday use as well as for special occasions.

You can take a look at the 31 varieties in the table at the bottom right on the last page of the Swisspatat article to get an idea of which potatoes to look for at what time of the year.

Different types of potatoes for different uses

There are basically 4 types of potatoes, according to Swisspatat:

1. Firm or “salad” potatoes. These potatoes do not burst open when cooking. They are moist, fine-grained and not mealy, and can be used in most dishes, with the exception of mashed potatoes and purées.

2. All-purpose medium-firm potatoes. The skin on these potatoes opens only slightly on cooking. They are somewhat mealy, on the dry side, and have a fine, grainy texture. They are tasty and can be used for most all purposes.

3. Mealy potatoes. These potatoes burst when cooked, but they are tender, mealy and rather dry. They have a large grain and strong taste and are used mostly for industrial purposes.

4. Extra-mealy potatoes. These are basically not for cooking and are used for feeding livestock or to make starch, due to their dryness and hard texture.

NOTE: We are assuming that you scrub your potatoes and cook them with their skin on.

Your vegetable seller can advise on which potatoes are suitable for your specific purposes. In supermarkets, their usage or a description of their type is often marked on the label.

I always keep several kinds on hand, since they are a vegetable that keeps well under the right storage conditions.

Major varieties of potatoes and how to use them

Agria, the ugly Quenelles, Amandines and Charlotte are already on the market in the Lake Geneva region.

IP-Suisse lists the Sirtema, Christa and Ostara as being the earliest of the “new potatoes”. They are firm, so they can be boiled, grilled or used for fried potatoes.

They refer to the Agria, Charlotte, Urgenta, Bintje, Nicola, Désirée, and Stella varieties as multi-purpose potatoes, available in the fall and all through the winter. Charlotte, Nicola and Stella remain firm when cooked, so they are perfect for salads, boiled potatoes or steamed with the skin on, while Agria, Urgenta, Bintje and Désirée are multi-usage.

In 2007, a French variety, Gourmandine, was launched in Switzerland. This variety is yellowish and medium-firm and suitable for boiled or salad potatoes, as well as for baked potatoes, röstis, and homemade chips or French fries.

Another French variety, Eden, also appeared. They are rather mealy and have a high starch content, making them suitable for mashed potatoes, salads and boiled potatoes. They are not suitable for French fries and chips however.

In 2009, we should see still more varieties: Annabelle, Pirol (for chips), and Mustang.

Suisse Garantie gives a good overview about exactly how to use each of the main varieties of Swiss potatoes and the period during which they are available. You can basically follow the recommendations for use under points 1 and 2 under Different types of potatoes for different uses and Major varieties of potatoes and how to use them above.

The basic terms are summarized below:

chair ferme/firm
chair plutôt ferme/medium-firm
chair farineuse/mealy or starchy (good for mashed or baked potatoes)
se conserve bien/keeps well
ne se conserve bien/does not keep well
chair grossière/coarse
chair fine/fine-grained
humide/moist (good for boiling and gratin)
variété précoce/early variety
utilisations multiples/multiple uses

The selection seems to get wider every year, and even with all the anti-carb campaigns, the Swiss still love their potatoes!

Red, yellow, green, and orange tomatoes now available in Lake Geneva region

Tomato season is well under way, and here are a few suggestions for using them.

How to choose a tomato

Remember you can’t judge a tomato by its cover. By that I mean, the best tomatoes may well be the ugliest. They have not been sorted to meet some regulation as to size, shape and color. They can even be marked “Geneva,” “Lausanne” or “Vevey”, and never have had a root in the earth. Tomatoes can be grown hydroponically just about anywhere, so the fact that it’s marked with a local name is not absolute assurance that it will be full of flavor like a summer tomato should be and that it has been grown using traditional methods.

There are a lot of resellers in farmers markets, and then there are direct producers. Don’t hesitate to ask the vendors in your farmers market if they grew their tomatoes in a field or if they were grown hydroponically or in a greenhouse (often referred to as sous tunnel or en serre). “Field” tomatoes are obviously likely to have more taste.

The best way to be sure is of course to grow them yourself, but we do not all have the possibility, of course.

The appearance is just one factor. Smell is just as important. A natural, ripe tomato smells fragrant when you put it to your nose. A small tomato can have as much taste as a big one. Tomatoes should be soft, but not blemished or split open. If they are hard and are not aromatic, they are probably not field tomatoes.

A tomato can have hard black “calluses” on it, but that has no effect on its flavor. Simply trim them off.

In general the darker the color, the stronger the taste and the more acidic. Yellow and orange tomatoes are sweet, rather like fruit. Red tomatoes have more pizzaz. The darker, purplish ones are strong-flavored and not to everyone’s taste.

Green tomatoes tend to be more acidic. Most people prefer them cooked rather than raw, but this is a matter of taste.

How to eat a summer tomato

There are million ways to eat tomatoes, but ripe summer tomatoes need very little.

My favorite way of eating them is simply with salt and pepper, and perhaps a drizzle of olive oil. A beautiful addition to any summer lunch is a large plate of sliced tomatoes of different colors, served in this way. It is always a hit, both aesthetically and as a dish.

Tomatoes are also good grilled over the coals. For this, choose medium-size tomatoes, so they won’t fall through the grille. Simply cut them in half and grill for about 3 minutes on each side. This intensifies the flavor, giving it what the French call a confit flavor. What it really does is evaporate most of the water, leaving behind the most flavorful part, the flesh. The natural sugar in the tomato also caramelizes, making it taste sweet rather than acidic.

Tomatoes, courgette (zucchini), and aubergines (eggplant) — the classic Mediterranean vegetables — are all in season at about the same time. There are endless recipes one can think up, but one of my favorite is to mix finely diced tomatoes, zucchini and chopped onions marinated in a generous helping of vinaigrette made with Balsamic vinegar, Chardonnay vinegar and olive oil.

And then there’s the all-time favorite: mozzarella served with tomatoes and fresh basil. This too can be livened up by using tomatoes of different colors.

Summertime is diet time: an approach to changing your eating habits

Summertime is the best time to start changing your eating habits. Fruits and vegetables are tastier and cheaper in summer, so your tastebuds are satisfied, but with fewer calories and more fiber. You can take advantage of this time to start a lifestyle change that will not only help you lose weight, but hopefully change your way of eating for the rest of your life.

The Swiss seem to have understood some of the basic rules better than others, according to our 27 July 2009 article on the Swiss preference for fresh fruit and milk products.

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Height of season for Valais apricots, considered best in Switzerland

With last weekend being the height of the Valais apricot season, I thought it timely to offer you a few ideas for using them while they’re ripe and ready.

Choosing your apricots

Photo courtesy of Ellen Wallace.

The first and most important thing is to buy tree-ripened apricots. By definition, this means local ones, since ripe apricots are soft to the touch and do not travel well.

If you plan to eat them fresh, they should be soft, but not blemished or bruised. The riper they are, the more flavorful they are.

If you are using them for cooking, the riper the better, and you can even get by with blemishes as long as they are not rotten-looking. As a general rule, the softer the sweeter.

You will often see crates of extra-ripe apricots discounted in farmers markets. Look them over, and if there are not too many black or rotting ones, they are actually the best for cooking purposes, especially for jams, cakes and sauces.

Recipe ideas for apricots

Note: With all apricot recipes, the amount of sugar used depends on the acidity of the apricots. The acidity depends on the ripeness, origin and variety. With so many factors coming into play, taste tests are indispensable and the quantity of sugar should be determined by taste, using the quantities given here as a guideline.

Apricot jam

The basic formula is 900 grams/2 lbs of sugar for every 2 kilograms/4 1/2 lbs of fruit used. This holds true for apricots, apples, cherries, nectarines and plums. If you like your jam really sweet, you can put equal weights of fruit and sugar.

Use cane sugar for more taste. I often halve the quantity of sugar in dessert recipes, but with jams this can be tricky, since sugar is what makes the jam set. It also serves as a preservative. If your fruit is extra-sweet, you might try cutting the quantity of sugar a tad.

Photo courtesy of Ellen Wallace.

Wash and rub apricots until perfectly clean. Remove any rotten spots with a paring knife. Dry well. Cut in half and remove stones. Save about half of the stones for later use.

Place apricots in a copper confiturier or a large stock pot. Add sugar. Let it sit overnight.

If the apricots are not ripe enough, they will not render any natural juices. If there are no juices, add 500 ml/1 pint of water to the pan.

Slowly bring to a boil on low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. This can take anywhere from 1 hour to 2 1/2 hours, depending on the water content of the apricots and the type of pan and stove or cooker you are using. Scrape the sides of the pan from time to time so that the mixture doesn’t crystallize.

The jam is set when you can dip a wooden spoon in it and it completely coats the spoon. Let jam settle for about 15 minutes before putting it into jars.

Pour jam into sterilized glass jars. Leave to cool. If you see the jam hasn’t set properly, you can put it back into the pan and boil it again, adding a little lemon juice.

Add two stones to each jar. Cool. Seal jars.

Apricot purée or coulis

Once again, the amount of sugar you use depends on whether you want it to have a tart flavor or a sweet flavor. If you’re going to pour it onto a very sweet cake or pie, opt for a more acidic taste. If you’re eating with something that is itself a little acidic, you might want to make your sauce sweeter. And once again, the sweetness will always depend on the ripeness of your apricots, so you’ll have to do a taste test in any case.

Wash apricots. Remove stones.

Put 300 grams/10 ounces of cane sugar (labeled sucre de canne roux or cassonade in Swiss and French supermarkets) and a vanilla bean (cut open in the lengthwise direction) into a saucepan. Slowly bring to a boil over medium heat until it begins to thicken and sugar has completely dissolved, i.e. until it forms a syrup.

Put 500 grams/18 ounces of apricots into a food processor, or run them through a food mill or chinois.  Add apricots to the liquid sugar mixture and mix with a wooden spoon. Heat mixture until it is thick enough to completely coat a wooden spoon.

This apricot sauce can be eaten warm or cold, depending on what you are using it with. It keeps for several days in the refrigerator.

Apricot coulis is a perfect accompaniment to a dark chocolate cake, but can be used to make ice cream sundaes or parfaits just as easily.

It can also be used in savory dishes, for example with cold chicken breasts or cold pork roast. In this case, you would of course considerably reduce the amount of sugar.

Roasted apricots

Preheat oven to 250° C or French mark 8. Wash apricots. Cut in half. Remove stone.

Lay apricot halves out on a roasting tin or broiler pan, or in a large casserole dish. Sprinkle lightly with brown cane sugar and just a tad of butter, distributed evenly in small bits, so that it will form a natural sauce.  (This can also be done on a barbecue grill, but you’d lose the juices.) Put in oven, and immediately turn temperature down to 220° C or French mark 7. Turn when top side is browned. If butter starts to burn, add a few drops of water.

When soft and slightly browned and caramelized, remove from oven or grill.

Distribute on individual plates. Serve with a scoop of salt caramel, coffee or walnut ice cream. Lightly sprinkle with vanilla powder (labeled poudre vanille or vanille en poudre in supermarket; easy to find in France, but difficult to find in Switzerland), cinnamon and a high-quality chocolate or cocoa powder. Drizzle a little maple syrup over it. It is now ready to serve.

Sugar-free apricot purée or coulis

The great French chef Michel Guérard, who started the Cuisine Minceur movement in 1974, has a recipe for a sugar-free version of a coulis. This is adapted from the 1976 edition of Michel Guérard’s Cuisine Minceur, now out of print:

Wash, halve and pit 12 ripe fresh apricots. In a saucepan, add apricots, 1/2 cup of water, 1 vanilla bean (cut open in the lengthwise direction, down the middle) and artificial sweetener to taste, the equivalent of about 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar. Simmer for 10 or 15 minutes, until mixture is reduced by about one third.

Remove vanilla bean. Put mixture in a food processor to make a purée.

This sugar-free sauce can be served in the same manner as the traditional apricot purée or coulis recipe above.

Mezze: summer vegetables with a new twist for your picnics

What are summer vegetables for us are year-long vegetables for the Lebanese and Syrians.

Choosing your courgettes or zucchini

Zucchini should be dark green and firm to the touch. Avoid wrinkly-looking courgettes, which are not fresh.

Choose young, small ones. The taste is more delicate and sweeter. Larger older courgettes often have large seeds, and tend to be bitter.

Recipe for mezze-style courgette (zucchini) salad

This is a kid-friendly recipe.

Wash 2 kg of zucchini, using a brush to gently scrape off dirt.

Cut into large cubes. Steam until just cooked, but still a little crunchy. Drain if they are watery.

Put steamed cubes in a large mixing bowl and mash with a large fork, or purée in a moulinette or food processor, until smooth with no lumps. Be careful not to overdo it or it will turn liquidy.

In a separate mixing bowl, add 8 tablespoons of tahini (sesame paste; can be found in foreign food section of most large supermarkets or in Oriental stores) or sesame oil, 1 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice and 6 to 8 cloves of garlic. Salt to taste.

Add sauce to zucchini. Mix. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Put into serving dish.

Drizzle with olive oil and add Sicilian or Italian cherry tomatoes to decorate. It can also be sprinked with chopped Italian (flat) parsley to add more color and vitamins.

Mezze: summer vegetables with a new twist for your picnics

What are summer vegetables for us are year-long vegetables for the Lebanese and Syrians.

Choosing your aubergine or eggplant

Aubergine or eggplant caviar is a perfect accompaniment to any summer picnic. Although we don’t really have enough days of hot sun in Switzerland to produce many non-hothouse aubergines, we still manage to produce some pretty good ones. If you can’t find local ones, try and get ones from Sicily, or at least Italy, countries that have a lot of sun. Spanish ones are sometimes available too.

Sicilian eggplants are round, and they do not have to be perfect and waxy to taste good. In fact, they are often tastiest when they look a little tired. You can find these in farmers markets, good Italian shops, and some large supermarkets.

The variety we usually grow is Switzerland, i.e. the elongated ones, are best when long and thin. Choose one that is firm and heavy, because they can often be rather hollow inside, and for making this dish, you need as much flesh as possible.

According to Gwen James, the male varieties tend to be the most dense and tastiest. Males have neat, round “bellybuttons,” and females have elongated ones, which means they have more seeds and less flesh.

Preparation of eggplants for aubergine caviar or caviar d’aubergine

Wash 2 kg of eggplants. Grill in oven or on a charcoal grill. If you grill them over a charcoal fire, they will have that smoky taste you find in Syria and Lebanon.

When the skins are charred, remove from heat. Put them in a paper bag to cool, or plunge them into cold water and dry carefully.

Recipe

Scrape flesh out of aubergines, and put it into a big mixing bowl. Be careful not to get any of the charred skin into the flesh.

Crush flesh with a large fork, or purée in a moulinette or food processor. Careful not to overdo it in the food processor. Flesh should be smooth, without lumps, but not liquid.

Make sauce in a separate bowl. Mix 8 tablespoons of tahini (sesame paste, available in foreign food section of large supermarkets or in Oriental food stores) or sesame oil with 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice. Add 6 to 8 cloves of crushed or extra finely chopped garlic, depending on how garlicy you want it. Salt to taste. About a teaspoon is usually fine.

Mix puréed aubergines and sauce.

Put in serving dish. Drizzle a little olive oil over it.

Just before serving, decorate with mint leaves or chopped parsley.

Photos courtesy of http://www.freedigitalphotos.net.

Summertime is the perfect time to start!

Farmers market

Going to the farmers market can be made into an exciting, weekly event. Summer offers lots of fresh fruit that they can choose to make their smoothies, to put on their breakfast cereal, or to make fruit salads. Vegetables are tastier in summer than in winter, and there is a larger selection, so it is also an occasion to encourage them to try more vegetables. If they choose fruit and vegetables themselves, they will feel more part of the process, and are more likely to eat them.

Making the shopping list

Start by discussing the fruits and vegetables that are in season with your child before you go to the market. For the Lake Geneva region, you can look at our MarketDay photo albums, published regularly, to get an idea of what you can expect to find. If you are planning on making a meal together, choose the dishes and ingredients together when making your shopping list. If it’s fruit for snacks or smoothies, let them decide which ones they prefer.

It is a good idea to put up a food pyramid and a seasonal products chart somewhere in the kitchen, so you can refer to it when planning meals with the children, and also to explain why they must eat food such as green vegetables or fruit, for example. More suggestions are available in our 9 May 2009 post A fun, interactive guide for teaching your children good eating habits.

Explain the importance of buying local when possible. It is not only cheaper, but fresher, and therefore has more vitamins.

At the market

Once you’re at the market, let them start looking for the items on the list. When they’ve spotted them, explain how to choose, by color, smell, touch, ripeness, etc., but make sure to ask the vendor if it’s all right to touch first.

This is also a time to let them look for products that have a local origin written on the tags, and to explain that if the products are local, they are also more ecological, because the cost of transport is less, and that in turn makes them more economical. It takes a lot of fuel to bring tomatoes from Holland in July and August when we have them right here in the region. Reduced transport also cuts pollution.

Buying from local producers allows children to have direct contact with the farmers, and to ask questions if they like. Farmers love to talk about what they have lovingly produced, and this in turn encourages children to appreciate farmers’ hard work and the satisfaction that it brings them. There is a reciprocity: the farmer gives you something he or she has produced with care, and you in turn get to satisfy your tastebuds.

Make kids part of the entire process by letting them help prepare the meal or dish afterwards. Once again, they are more likely to eat it if they help prepare it.