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Blueberry Buckle with Lemon Drizzle

~ sprinklemeswiss ~ Leave a comment

From Foodie Crush

http://www.foodiecrush.com/blueberry-buckle-recipe/

 

SERVES: 16 2-INCH SQUARES
Ingredients
  • For the cake
  • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • ½ cup whole milk
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups all-pupose flour
  • 2½ cups fresh blueberries
  • For the topping
  • 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon grond cinnamon
  • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces at room temperature
  • For the glaze
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • Juice of ½ lemon, add more if needed
  • 2 tablespoons honey or vanilla flavored greek yogurt (optional)
  • ¼ teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly butter an 8 or 9-inch square baking pan.
  2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg, milk, baking powder, and salt. Use a hand mixer to mix well. Mix in half of the flour, then incorporate the remaining half. Fold in the blueberries. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and set it aside.
  3. Make the topping. Combine the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter in a medium-sized bowl. Mix with a pastry cutter or your fingers until combined and crumbly. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the cake batter. Bake the buckle for 45-50 minute, or until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely.
  4. Make the lemon glaze. While the cake is baking, whisk the powdered sugar with the lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla. Whisk in the greek yogurt if using, or add more lemon juice to desired consistency.
  5. Cut the buckle into squares and drizzle with the lemon glaze.

Things to do in Switzerland: Summer

~ sprinklemeswiss ~ Leave a comment

 

May 28: Open Cellars in Geneva

June 3-4: Mont-sur-Rolle Spring Market

June 7 – 12: Bejart Ballet: Bolero

June 11: Vide-Grenier de la Place de Milan

June 16-19: Art Basel 

July 1 -16: Montreux Jazz Festival

Now – July 2: Helvetic Revolution

August 1: Swiss Day

August 13: Zurich Street Parade

August 20-21: Lausanne Triathlon

Now – September 25: Road to Rio

November 8-20: Chicago in Zurich

November 17: Justin Bieber in Zurich

November 22-27: West Side Story in Basel

 

Till December 30, 2018: A La Fortune du Pot, Chine, mudac, Lausanne

 

Pan-Fried Beans and Kale

~ sprinklemeswiss ~ Leave a comment

I was so excited when Food52 came out with their best recipes of 2015 last week.  If you don’t know Food52, its a genius (yes they have #genius recipes) online source for recipes and online store for accessories.  I came across this recipe and knew it was going to be a hit.  But as always, I worry about cooking American recipes in Switzerland, I typically always have to substitute some ingredients for others, but finally…a recipe that’s perfect.

The more I eat kale, the more I read about the preparation of kale and how to make it taste even better!  Have you ever massaged your kale? Yea, I didn’t until now.  I kept reading that this method makes eating raw kale much easier by breaking down the structure of the leaves and enhancing the flavor at the same time.  Definitely a two-fer for me.

Start with washing your kale.  Remove any tough ribs.  I always fold the kale in half, along the center thick rib and then slice rib off, leaving 2 halves of the leaf.  Remove any other thicker ribs that you find.  Chop the kale to your liking.  Bite sized pieces are good here.

Place chopped kale in bowl.  Sprinkle with some salt, drizzle of oil and a tablespoon (+/-) of fresh lemon juice.   Massage gently with your hands.  You will be able to feel the leaves becoming easier to work with. Do this for 1-2 minutes.

Here is the finished massage kale.  Gorgeous, right?

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I toasted the walnuts before I started the recipe.  Good thing about walnuts, they break apart in your hands quite easily, so no need to take out the food processor to chop the nuts.

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I was worried about finding the beans in that in Switzerland I wouldn’t be able to find dried or canned beans that I could use, however Migros surprised me.  Now I prefer dried beans, but in a pinch I will substitute canned.  This was one of those times. Migros has Habriots de Soissons blancs (large white beans) available.  Now onto the trickiest part of the recipe, making sure that the beans are in a single layer and that you flip every single one of them.

A one pot wonder comes alive.

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Serves 2 to 4

  • 1/2 bunch (6 ounces / 170 grams)  kale, stems removed
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 to 3 big handfuls of cooked large white beans (like coronas, limas, or gigante beans)
  • 1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
  • 1/3 cup (1 1/2 ounces / 45 grams) walnuts, lightly toasted and chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • Scant 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (I used less.  depends on your taste)
  • Zest of 1/2 a lemon
  • 1/3 cup (1/2 ounce / 15 grams) freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
  1. Chop and massage kale as described above.  Toast walnuts.
  2. Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add the beans in a single layer. Stir to coat the beans, then let them sit long enough to brown lightly on one side, about 3 or 4 minutes, before turning to brown the other side, also about 3 or 4 minutes. The beans should be golden and a bit crunchy on the outside.
  3. Add the kale and salt to the pan and cook for less than a minute, just long enough for the kale to lose a bit of its structure. Stir in the walnuts and garlic, wait 10 seconds, then stir in the nutmeg. Wait ten seconds and stir in the lemon juice and zest. Remove from heat and serve dusted with Parmesan cheese.

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

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Apples and cinnamon, yum, classic Fall flavors. Even better, when it is use in a muffin with zucchini and no butter.  Genius, right? Just in time for our first snowfall this weekend, I selected to bake these yummy treats for our car ride to Alba, Italy.

Swiss Note: since in Switzerland many ingredients are not available, I have modified the recipe to for the Expats 🙂 I made buttermilk by adding some lemon juice to the milk and letting it set for 10 minutes.  Gala apples are easy to find, but Granny Smith is a bit tricky…sometimes I find them at Coop or Denner and I make my own vanilla.

Ingredients:

Adapted from: Two Peas and Their Pod

Yield 15 muffins, I was able to produce 20

For the Muffins:
2 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tablespoon oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup grated apple (Granny Smith, Gala or Pink Lady)
1/2 cup grated zucchini, moisture slightly squeezed out
1 cup chopped peeled apple (Granny Smith, Gala or Pink Lady)

For the Topping:
2 tablespoons turbinado sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F/190C degrees . Line a muffin pan with paper liners or spray with cooking spray. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, applesauce, oil, egg, and vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula until just combined. Do not over mix. Gently stir in the grated apple, zucchini, and chopped apples.

3. To make the topping, combine turbinado sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Stir well.

4. Fill the prepared muffin pan with muffin batter, filling each cup about 3/4 the way full. Sprinkle each muffin with cinnamon sugar topping. Bake for 20 minutes, or until muffins are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let muffins cool to room temperature and serve.

Note-these muffins freeze well.

Good Morning Summer

~ sprinklemeswiss ~ Leave a comment

Good Morning All! Its the first official day of Summer and the Swiss White Nights have started.  Its something strange for a Midwest Girl for it to be light outside until 10PM and eating at 8:30PM.  Something in my past 3 years in Lausanne that I started to become use to.

Since we have much longer days here than in Chicago, I was decided to try and make use of the extended daylight and try a new project per week..or when work allows me to step away from the computer 🙂

Spicy Pickles is next…