Snacking in Switzerland

Pretzels are very common in Switzerland where they are usually sliced horizontally, slathered with butter, and sold under the name butterbrezel. I do love a good butterbrezel, especially when it also has salami on it. One of my favorite places in Luzern (Lucerne) Switzerland for a buttered pretzel with salami is Brezelkönig. They also sell pretzel baguettes with an assortment of meats, cheeses, and vegetables, and frankfurters sold on pretzel buns of course! Whenever I travel to Luzern, I usually buy a tomato, mozzarella and pesto baguette right when I get off the train from Zurich. For mid day and weekend snacks, I go for the butterbrezel with salami.

Brezelkönig's pretzels are soft and salty and the butter is fresh and sweet. The salty salami offers a nice contrast to the rich butter which is why I love this pretzel! If you speak any German, check out http://www.brezelkoenig.ch/ or just stop into one of their many locations in Luzern the next time you are there; I know I will.

On the disabled list

Due to an unfortunate accident at my house over the weekend, my left arm is in a cast for at least the next 8 weeks - I broke my wrist. Typing is slow and difficult with one hand so I'm going to try and catch up on my "writing" with a little photo journalism. Follow me through pictures as I eat my way through Switzerland and India.

Straussensteak at Helvetia Luzern

More from Luzern! My first dinner in the city of Luzern, Switzerland, was at the restaurant Helvetia. After arriving in Luzern mid-morning, I headed to the office for some afternoon meetings. Later in the day, a couple more colleagues arrived in the city and four of us went out for dinner. After a long day traveling and in the office, a nice tall, cold beer was in order. Round 1 was a tall Klosterbräu, a nice tasty beer and one that I had never heard of before.

To start the food portion of my meal, I had spargelsalat. Spargel is the German word for asparagus and salat the German word for salad. This was one delicious salad of warm asparagus, white and green, tomatoes, radicchio, some other greens and a warm vinaigrette.

Following the Klosterbräu and the salad was a nice tall unfiltered Löwenbräu (pronounced Loo-vehn broy, not Low-ehn-brow like us Americans say!) This was a nice, crisp, unfiltered beer with a tasty, somewhat fruity flavor. Very refreshing!

And finally, my entree, straussensteak. That is, an ostrich steak with buttered egg noodles and a steamed vegetable medley of carrots, green beans, broccoli and cauliflower. The ostrich steak, as you can see in the picture below, is doused in a pink peppercorn sauce. The ostrich steak was incredibly lean and full of flavor. The taste is similar to beef, but much lighter, it does not have that rich, metallic (iron) taste that beef sometimes has. If you've never tried ostrich, I saw seek it out and give it a try, you might just love it!

I will add that this is not the first time I have had ostrich. A few years ago while at this place called Crazy Burger, I tried an ostrich burger, and I loved it!

A home cooked meal in Switzerland

I traveled to Luzern, Switzerland for some meetings back in May and was fortunate to get a home cooked meal at my friend and colleague Jason's house. All I knew was that he was making risotto, but as I would soon find out, I was in for a treat.

For Jason's first course, he put together a wonderful salad of lamb's lettuce (mâche), fresh figs, parma, and buffalo mozzerella with a drizzle of aged balsamic. This salad was outstanding! I had never had fresh figs before and I fell in love with them. The parma was also excellent and the mozzarella was so soft and delicate, it practically melted in my mouth. The aged balsamic balanced the sweetness of the entire salad very well, nice job Jason!

Here is Chef Jason hard at work in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on his award winning risotto.


Course two as I mentioned, was risotto. A sautéed fennel risotto with fresh ricotta. Jason first sautéed the fennel and held it aside while the risotto cooked. As Jason added the last cup of hot stock to the risotto pan, he added in the fennel, bringing all the flavors together. He plated the risotto with a few teaspoons of the fresh ricotta, some crushed red peppers, and some of the fennel fronds. This risotto was seriously good; the rice was cooked perfectly and the slightly sweet, sautéed fennel balanced out the richness of the risotto. I had seconds.

To end this fantastic meal, Jason served up some great vanilla ice cream with fresh berries and a little splash of aged balsamic vinegar. So good.

So to Jason and his wife, Keryn, thank you for this delicious home cooked meal in Switzerland, and for being so kind open up your home. Next time you're in Boston, dinner is at my house.