Eating in the Swiss Alps, Part 2

Arosa, a mountain resort town in the easternmost canton of Switzerland, Graubünden, is popular in both the summer and winter for recreation. Last winter, I spent a weekend there with friends for a couple days of skiing and some really great mountain food! The first meal pictured below is of alpler magronen, also known as aelpler makkaroni; as I mentioned in part 1, this traditional Swiss mountain food is a macaroni and cheese-like dish consisting of pasta, potato, bacon/ham, and cheese served with a side of apple sauce. I enjoyed this incredible, hearty dish at Carmenna-Hütte on the side of the mountain.

On our second day of skiing, we stopped into another mountain-side restaurant, Alpenblick, where I ate half of a rotisserie chicken that was cooking right outside on the restaurants deck. This was quite possibly the best rotisserie chicken I have ever eaten. This was a locally raised chicken, roasted with fresh rosemary and served with a delicious salad of lambs lettuce and shredded carrots, fennel and roasted beets. I also had a couple glasses of jagertee (jaeger-tay), a delicious blend of hot, black tea and rum with some other tasty spices - the name is slightly misleading, there is no Jaegermeister in this drink. This was a perfect warming drink that I actually prefer to glühwein, another favorite winter drink of mine popular in Germany. Glühwein is hot, mulled wine.

Enjoy the pictures!

Eating in the Swiss Alps, Part 1

My real job takes me to a lot of places and one of my favorites is Switzerland. On one trip to the country I spent a weekend in the Alps for some skiing, some fun, and a lot of great food. On what was my first foray into the Swiss Alps I visited Melchsee-Frutt and Andermatt. Pictures of the beautiful mountains and delicious food follow below. Mountain food in Switzerland is simple, satisfying, and sustaining, but most importantly it's delicious! On this trip I learned about rösti and Älpler Magronen, a delicious Swiss macaroni and cheese-like dish consisting of pasta, potatoes, ham or bacon, cheese, and onions. The version I ate at the top of Andermatt was good (see below), but on a later trip up into the Alps in Arosa I would have what may go down as the best Alpler Magronen of all time. More on my trip to Arosa in another post. For now, enjoy my visit to Melchsee-Frutt and Andermatt.

Melchsee-Frutt

Kalbsbratwurst mit Zwiebelsauce und ein butter-rösti
[Veal sausage with onion sauce and buttered potatoes]
Gasthof Waldhaus Stöckalp - Melchsee-Frutt

Apfelstrudel [Apple Strudel]

Andermatt

Älpler Magronen high up on Andermatt