Chorizo Cheese Tortilla

We just returned from an annual family vacation in Denmark, during which all family members take turns cooking. It's normally a gain-five-pounds deal, though this year ten is more close to reality. On my day I prepared various tapas, including a simple tortilla:

• Dice and boil 5 large potatoes.
• Dice one red paprika, an onion and a tomato, fry in an oven-proof pan in some olive oil over medium heat for 5 minutes.
• Chop 300g of chorizo sausage into chunks and add to pan, fry another 5 minutes, browning evenly.
• Add diced potatoes.
• Whisk 5 eggs, season with salt, pepper, paprika and pour into pan. Lift at the edge occasionally to let the egg mixture run underneath.
• When eggs set, grate a layer of Mahon or Parmesan cheese over everything and put into preheated oven for 15 minutes.

Serve hot, warm or cold in slices.
I also prepared some yummy marinated green olives. Will post here if I recall the recipe.

Last Fondue of the year

OK, today has been the very last opportunity to chase away wintertime and I think we did it the right way.
I met Liam this morning for a short hiking tour from Pfäffikon to Einsiedeln, where we saw the black Madonna and ate a rather bad Bratwurst. On the right, you may see the result.

Anyway, it didn't hurt us so much, since we both knew, what's waiting at home: the last fondue of the year. Of course we all know, there are some strange people up there in the western part of Switzerland, who eat fondue the whole year, but I simply refuse to talk to them.
I know, there is a lot of mythology around fondue. Since I'm german, I believe in rationality and as a result my advice for the best fondue ever is quite simple: only trust in really good cheese. Here is the recipe I use:

Ingredients for four persons

1. 200g Gruyere, 200g Appenzeller, 200g Bündner Bergkäse, 200g Freiburger Vacherin gross grated
   
2. 400ml vine for fondue (dry, high acidity). If you are in Switzerland, buy the special fondue wine, but never (!) try to drink it
   
3. 6 or more cloves of garlic
   
4. 4 tsp. cornstarch
5. 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
   
6. Kirsch
7. Pepper and nutmeg
8. Enough white bread in small pieces
   

There is nothing magical in dressing a fondue: Peel garlic, robout the Caquelon with one of them, throw all garlic, the cheese, the vine, the cornstarch and the juice into the Caquelon and boil everything up. Take care to stir a lot. When it bubles, put in some Kirsch, pepper and nutmeg. The decision on how much Kirsch to use, depends on your mood. When I began preparing fondue, I preferred to take a lot of Kirsch, but now, I just use one small jigger.

When the fondue is too fluid, mix some Kirsch with some more cornstarch and mix it into the cheese. But beware of taking too much cornstarch. If you are satisfied, be sure to serve quickly on a prepared rechaud.


If everything goes well, you will have lucky guests as you may see on the foto on the left.
Remember: a good fondue has only good cheese in it. If you are lucky and live in Zürich, try out the Chäslädeli in the Zollikerstrasse.