Zopf - Swiss Bread

The classical Swiss Sunday Morning bread. It tastes best when it's still warm, with a lot of butter on it. Just be careful, it's highly addictive!


500 grams of white flour
60 grams of eggs
1 big spoon full of sugar
25 grams of fresh yeast or 7 grams of dried yeast
300 ml of milk
1 egg

1. Warm the milk a little bit so it has room temperature. It must not be hot, not even very warm! Mix it with the yeast.

2. Put the flour in a bowl, add the butter (in pieces), the salt, the sugar and the milk with the yeast. Knead the dough thoroughly until it becomes very smooth and not sticky.

3. Put the dough back into the bowl and cover the bowl with a wet towel. Let it rest for 40 to 60 minutes hour in the oven at 50 degrees, with the door of the oven slightly open (you can put a stick between door and oven).

4. Now comes the hard part! Divide the dough in two pieces and roll them, so you get strings which are about 3 to 5 centimetres thick. Lay one on top of the other so you get a cross. Now you always cross the two ends that belong to the same strings. It can be confusing, but you will learn it with time. Anyway, there are different way of braiding, so you can also do it as you would do it with hair: by using three strings.







5. Paint the 'Zopf' with one yellow of an egg and bake it in the oven at 200 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes, depending on how much done you want it.


Enjoy your meal!

Jacqueline's Banana Muffins

100g chocolate chips (optional)
3 large very ripe bananas (even black is OK!)
175ml white sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
350ml flour
75ml melted butter or oil

1. Mash the bananas. Then stir in the sugar, the egg and the butter.

2. Mix together the flour, the salt, the baking soda, the baking powder and the chocolate chips in a separate bowl. Slowly stir this mixture into the banana mixture until just mixed. (If you stir it too much the muffins will be tough!)

3. Pour the mixture into greased or papered muffin tins until they are about 2/3 full each.

4. Bake the muffins in the preheated oven to 190°C for 20 minutes or until the muffins are light golden on top. You can also test whether they are done by inserting a needle into the muffins – if it comes out clean they are done.

Makes about 24 muffins.

Mélanie's Crêpes

100 grams of flour
1 egg
200 ml of milk
1 big spoon of oil

1. Mix together the flour, the egg, the milk and the oil. The dough should be a bit liquid but not to much. You can double or triple the quantity depending on the number of crepes you want.

2.. Put a bit of oil in a frying pan but very, very little! You can use a tissue soaked in oil to oil the pan. The crêpes should be very thin. Only put a little dough and then move the pan until the dough has spread all over the pan.

Take them out and enjoy!

Chicken with Prunes (à la Eli)

Chicken (legs or other parts)
3 onions or some leek
carrots
Prunes (or other dried fruits, if you like them)
Whisky (only a little glass, let's say 50-100 ml)
Olive oil
Pepper
Herbs

As a side dish, you may have fried vegetables or fried white rice with mushrooms and oil.

1. Heat some olive oil in a big pot.

2. Cut onions or leek and add them into the pot. Let them cook until they become golden.

3. Clean the chicken and add it into the pot too. Let it become golden too, then add some herbs (this will take you around 20 minutes).



4. Once the chicken has got its golden colour you can add the whisky. Then put the lid on and let it cook for 5 to 7 minutes.

5. Add the carrots cut in round slides.

6. Boil the prunes or the other dried fruits in a small pot and boil them for about 5 minutes.

7. Once the prunes are boiled, add them to the chicken. Keep the water you boiled them in.



8. Let the chicken cook at low heat for 20 to 25 minutes. Then add a little of the water you were cooking the prunes in in order to make a sauce. Don't add too much water, or the chicken will become watery.

9. If at any time the chicken sticks to the pot, add a little bit of whisky.



ENJOY IT! I love it!

Eli

Melanie's Chocolate Cake

A delicious cake with a strong chocolate flavour. My first try does not look as good as Melanie's looked, but I guess it gets better very time I will make it.

250 g baking chocolate (not the one you usually eat)
100 g butter
100 g sugar
4 eggs
2 big spoons of flour
salt

1. Melt the chocolate in a pan with a bit of water.

2. Separate the egg whites from the egg yellows. Mix the yellows with the sugar and then add the flour and the salt. Mix it.

3. Mix the butter with the melted chocolate and add it to the dough.

4. Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until it becomes stiff. Add it to the dough and mix it carefully.

5. Put the mixture into a cake form and bake it at 200 °C for 25 to 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Tortilla or Spanish Omelette

4-5 potatoes (medium size)
1 onion (optional)
3-4 eggs (depending on the number of potatoes)
salt
oil (sunflower or olive)

1. Peel and cut the potatoes into the shape you prefer. Not very thick, though, and all the same size, so they don't burn.



2. Put plenty of oil into a frying pan or a pot, more or less enough to cover the potatoes. When it's hot, add the potatoes and the onion and put the lid on. Wait until they are cooked (tender, not crunchy like fried potatoes).



3. Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a bowl and add salt (however much you like).

4. Mix the potatoes/onions and the eggs in the bowl.

5. Put a wee bit of oil into the frying pan (or empty it if you fried the potatoes in the same one) and heat it. Add the mixing and turn the fire down a bit.

6. Wait until it's cooked on that side (maybe 2 minutes, but it depends on the cooker and how much cooked you want your omelette)



7. Then the tricky moment: turning the omelette. Put a plate on top of the frying pan and hold it with one hand, while you turn the frying pan with the other. It looks harder than it is. Try turning it onto the table or somewhere you can put it back into the pan from. Put it back into the frying pan. You can add a bit of oil first.



8. When it's ready, put the omelette on a plate. You can turn it again to see if it's really cooked and put it back if it's not.



That's it. Just remember that, if you have some slaves to help you, the process of peeling potatoes is faster.

* Note: Elisa will hate me for this remark, but I transformed my meat recipes into vegetarian ones for her too: If you need meat (because your French, for example), you can add cubes of bacon or ham to the omelette, or slices of sausage. In fact I'd say you can add whatever comes to you mind (tough, wait Henriikka, no chocolate cake!).

Tiramisu

The classic Italian dessert. There are many different recipes, but this is one of the easiest. For more special ones you might contact Alessandro or Annalisa.


500 grams of mascarpone
4 eggs
80 grams of sugar
2 packs of sponge fingers (the Tiramisu biscuits)
coffee
amaretto (typical Italian almond liquor, optional)
chocolate powder

1. Make a huge cup of very strong coffee. You can add some sugar, if you like it really sweet. Let it cool for a while.

2. Mix the 4 egg yellows with the sugar and the mascarpone. Beat the egg white until it is becomes snow (stiff) and carefully add it to the mixture.



3. Put the coffee on a plate and soak the biscuits with it until they become soft. Put them close to each other in a baking dish or any kind of bowl, for example one you could make a lasagne in.



After the layer of biscuits add half of the mascarpone mixture. Then do the same again: one layer of biscuits, one layer of mascarpone mixture. Put two big spoons of chocolate powder in a sieve and distribute it over the Tiramisu.

4. Let the Tiramisu rest in the fridge. The longer it stays there, the better it becomes. 12 to 15 hours resting is ideal, 6 are necessary. It can be eaten before, but it won't taste as good!



Enjoy your meal!

* Note: If you don't like coffee, you can use fruit juices such as orange juice. You can improve your fruit Tiramisu by adding fruits to it. For example you can cook plums with sugar and, optionally, some red wine, soak the liquid with the biscuits and put the cooked plums in the mascarpone mixture.

Chicken in a Red-Wine-Garlic Sauce

A very easy and not too expensive recipe which can nevertheless make a very impressive meal for guests.


2-3 chicken filets (per person)
8-16 mushrooms (optional)
1 big spoon of fresh thyme leaves
5-10 cloves of garlic
200 millilitres of red wine
150 millilitres of soured cream
150 grams of Tagliatelle Noodles (per person)


1. Cut the garlic gloves in small pieces, the mushrooms in slices and prepare the thyme leaves. Use fresh thyme by all means; you can buy in a bunch in every supermarket.

2. Start boiling the water for the noodles. Then heat about four big spoons of olive oil in a big frying pan and add the chicken filets, after you have salted them slightly. Fry the filets shortly on each side and add the garlic, the mushrooms and the thyme leaves. Fry them together for about 3 minutes.



3. Add the red vine and turn up the heating temperature so the wine is boiling. Add 100 millilitre of water with 1 teaspoon of salt, stir and let it cook. It should be boiling in order to make the sauce become slightly thicker.



4. When the water for the noodles is boiling, salt it and add the noodles. Shortly before they are cooked al dente, take the chicken filets out of the sauce and put them on the plate(s). Put a little sauce on them, then mix the rest of the sauce with the soured cream. When the noodles are al dente, mix them with the sauce and put it on the plate(s) next to the chicken filets.



Enjoy your meal!

* Note: If you want you can add small cut onions and carrots to the sauce to make it richer. If you don't like chicken, you can take lamb, but don't cook it too long. Don't be afraid because there is a lot of garlic, it won't taste strong and it won't give you bad breath!

** Vegetarian Variant: Vegetarians can add more mushrooms instead of the chicken and add small cut carrots and onions. As there is no meat you can cooks the sauce longer so it will thicker.