Food & Recipes from the Alps

Travelling to the Alps, you will enjoy the lovely mountainscape, nice people and of course the lovely food. In this section of our MiaDeRoca-Magazine we will present you typical local recipies. Recipes for things to drink and things to eat, a wide variety of dishes with meat, with vegetabels and the so called "Mehlspeisen". "Mehlspeisen" are dishes with flour, sweet meals like the "Kaiserschmarrn", "Palatschinken" or "Topfenknödel".
You won't be able to get all the traditional ingredients everywhere, but in cases the products are rare, we will mention some alternatives. And if you still doubt, just drop us a line, we will try to help you to get some Alpine savour to your lunch or dinner.

 

Wild Garlic Spread

Depending on the weather conditions it might be perfect already in February, sometime in March, but most probably by April, it is time. Small, green leaves grow out of the soil, at places where we had snow a few days ago. We are looking for a very special delight to our tastebuds: wild garlic.
Wild garlic (Allium ursinum, Syn.: Allium latifolium, A. nemorale, Ophioscorodon ursinum) is a close relative to chives, garlic and leek. Is wild garlic a fountain of vitamins to bears after a long winter sleep, it is for us a welcome guest on spring menus. You can use wild garlic similar to chives as herb. But bear in mind wild garlic is much stronger and "garlicy".

It is a quick recipe for a picnic, some lunch al fresco, or a "Brotzeit" or "Brettljausn" how we call in the Alpine region a snack with bread.
I you are a wild garlic newbie start with 5-6 leaves, for garlic fans, it can be a hand full of these yummy vitamin bombs.
Cut the garlic into fine stripes and then quickly stir it into:

version 1:
2 tablespoon sour cream or yoghurt,
50g goat cheese crumbled with fork
or
version 2:
150 g Cottage Cheese

You can add some salt if you like to and then: enjoy!


If your love wild garlic (or bear paw garlic as much as we do, give this recipe a try: Wild Garlic Dumplings

To all wild garlic beginners - the first growth, when the snow is all gone is the best time to get them, as all other leaves that might look similar but are toxic, don't grow yet. If you have never ever picked your own garlic it is saver to buy it. Some botanical gardens do show how wild garlic looks like and what the differences between wild garlic, lilly of the valley and meadow saffron are.
A test, that can be used by everyone who wants to make sure, that they are not catching something poisonous is the olfactory test: wild garlic does smell like garlic.

 

 

16.03.2009. 17:14