Welcome to Switzerland! The Nifty Niece was studying this country in school, so again, we decided to try out their food! She told me the most interesting thing that she learned about Switzerland was that they speak four languages in that country! According to Google, Switzerland has 8.545 million people, and the capital is Bern. And their national food is...
Rotsi!
I was thinking chocolate...or fondue...or cheese. But Rosti? It is basically a hash brown pancake. Thinking we needed to make something more than a hash brown pancake, I found a recipe for Aelplermagronen, or Swiss Alpine Macaroni. And, for dessert, we decided chocolate fondue would be appropriate. Here's what we did:
- Grate potatoes and squeeze as much moisture as you can out of them (we did this using a kitchen towel).
- Heat nonstick pan on medium-high heat.
- Add 1 tbsp butter.
- When butter is melted, add whites of the onions and cook for about five minutes.
- Place the cooked onions in a bowl. Don't wipe out the pan.
- Add the squeezed potatoes to the bowl with the onions, add salt and pepper. Mix together.
- Reheat the pan on medium heat. Add another tbsp of butter to coat the entire bottom of the pan.
- When the pan is hot and the butter is melted, add the potato mixture, and use a spatula to form into a pancake shape.
- Cook for 10 minutes, covered with a lid or foil, and rotate every couple minutes.
- Remove the lid/foil and cook for five minutes more until the rosti is golden brown.
- Using a spatula to loosen the rosti, place a cutting board on top of the pan, and flip the pan onto the cutting board so that the rosti ends up on the cutting board.
- Add 1 tbsp butter to the pan and reheat.
- Once the butter is melted, slide the rosti, cooked side up, back into the pan.
- Cover and cook for five more minutes.
- Uncover the rosti and cook for another five minutes, until golden brown.
- Garnish with green parts of onions and serve.
- In a large pot, cook onions and garlic in avocado oil for about 25-30 minutes until caramelized.
- Remove mixture from pot - place in a dish and set aside.
- Cook the bacon until crispy. Remove from pan and set aside.
- Add the broth, heavy cream, and potatoes to the pan. Increase the heat to medium high and bring to a boil.
- Add pasta, cover the pot with a lid, and cook until the pasta is al dente.
- Once all the liquid is cooked out, remove from heat.
- Add the cheese and the onion mixture, stir until cheese is melted.
- Serve with bacon, chopped parsley, applesauce, and extra grated Gruyere cheese, if desired.
*We had a guest who had an allergy to bacon. If there is no bacon allergy, cook the bacon with the onions and garlic and omit the avocado oil.
(Source: https://marlameridith.com/recipe/one-pot-swiss-alpine-macaroni-aelplermagronen/)
- In a saucepan, combine the chocolate chips, milk, and cream.
- Heat on low, stirring often, until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth.
- Stir in vanilla.
- If needed, stir in more heavy cream or milk to make it the consistency you want for dipping. We added 2 tbsp of milk to ours.
- Serve with your choice of dippers (we chose Meringue cookies, pretzels, and marshmallows).
(Source: https://www.melskitchencafe.com/perfect-chocolate-fondue/)
