Crazy for Rhubarb

This year I've gone crazy for rhubarb. Until recently I couldn't have cared less for the bitter stalks. But now I'm addicted to their taste and texture once cooked with a bit of sugar and paired with strawberries or raspberries or even better: both. 

The first idea I had when I was picking out my rhubarb at the store was to make a rhubarb compote with just rhubarb, sugar and water. Then I decided I needed to put the compote on something. Vanilla ice cream or a cream made of mascparone came to mind. I decided on the mascarpone cream first of all because it's hard to find Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream (the only store-bought vanilla ice cream in Europe I deem worthy of its title--the US has many more options) and second because you can determine the sweetness if you make your own mascarpone cream. At the store I also found fresh strawberries so I decided they would round off the whole recipe. The following photo is the delicious result of this first attempt. 

This was already a pretty good combination. A few days later I ended up buying a food processor with an integrated blender (one of my most exciting purchases recently!) and decided that it was time to try a new version of the rhubarb recipe. This time I made a rhubarb compote with raspberries and then put it in the blender. I also blended the mascarpone cream in the food processor (instead of using a whisk). Although this is also tasty, I think I prefer a few chunks in my compote and a thicker version of the mascarpone cream (which you get when whisking by hand). 

Instead of arranging the compote and cream in a glass you can just put the cream in a bowl and top with the compote and fresh strawberries!

Rhubarb-raspberry compote

2 cups rhubarb cut into 1/2 inch pieces

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

3/4 cup frozen raspberries

Put rhubarb, sugar and water into a pot and cook on high till mixture is boiling. Add frozen raspberries and turn down the heat. Cook until rhubarb is tender, but not too soft. At this point you can choose to leave the compote the way it is or let it cool down and then put it in a blender, blending until you get the texture you want. 

Mascarpone cream

225 g mascarpone 

180 g plain yogurt

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Whisk all of the above until the texture is smooth and creamy. You can also choose to make this cream in a food processor (but be aware that you will quickly get a very smooth and less creamy consistency) or alternately use a hand mixer (which I haven't tried yet). 

Lily's Stomach Supply

Ever since the weather got warmer and therefore more reminiscent of California, I have been missing all the places I used to eat at in California. I miss all the ethnic foods, Mexican and Thai especially, and I miss the abundance of fresh produce. Last but not least I miss getting good food for a good price! Here, when I'm hungry but too lazy to cook I don't really have many choices for grabbing a quick bite to eat. We have Döner Kebap places en masse, but I don't really like to eat meat that was wrapped around a rotating stick and exposed to the air and heat for hours!

The only place I have found in Basel so far (besides Tibits, which I already talked about) that kind of reminds me of eating out in California is Lily's Stomach Supply, which sounds more like a place you would go to get nuts and bolts for your stomach. Fortunately for our stomachs, they actually serve food there! Their menu is a conglomeration of different Asian foods from India, Japan, China and other countries. Every time I go I try to order something different, but sometimes I just order the dishes I know I like. 

Following are pics of some of my favorite dishes. I also highly recommend the Massaman Curry, which is beef and potatoes in a peanut curry. I don't have a picture of it, but even if I did I wouldn't post it because it looks pretty unappetizing (brown soup with chunks in it) and you wouldn't want to eat it if you saw it. But believe me, it's tasty!

Pakistani Lamb Curry

Bun Gah (Vietnamese Rice Noodles in Curry)

Tandoori Chicken

Swiss Sweet Tooth Satisfiers

I thought moving to Switzerland would be similar to moving to France, meaning I would be surrounded by sweets left and right. But, unfortunately (or, rather, fortunately), that was not the case. I'm not exactly sure how I got the impression that Switzerland would be a sort of candyland. Maybe because Switzerland is a country known for its abundance of chocolate. And there is lots of chocolate. It's everywhere. But what I was really looking for (and still am!) was pastries and cakes along the lines of those from Sprüngli, which I had already known from my frequent visits to Zürich. Zürich not only has a big Sprüngli café, it also has lots of shops within Zürich. Sadly, Sprüngli only has a small shop at the train station here in Basel. The other day I finally treated myself to some of their mini pastries. I had held off on trying them because who could be satisfied from eating just one? Besides that they are pretty pricey. But nevertheless I decided to try them. What I got was a mini cake with a truffle topping and a mini coffee eclair. Both were very good. However, I decided my favorite eclairs were those with plain pastry cream and chocolate glaze on top. 

After having searched the downtown area  for suitable sweet tooth satisfiers, I finally came across Confiserie Bachmann. Now I find myself going there almost every weekend to get one of my new favorite pastries: a chocolate macaroon (Schoggimakrone), made of what I assume to be hazelnuts, sugar, and egg whites and filled with chocolate cream (that unfortunately sometimes has an alcoholic flavor to it). But their chocolate buns (Schoggiweggli), a yeast dough with chocolate chunks in it,  are very good as well. Both types of pastries are pretty common here. 

Another common pastry is the Osterflädli. It's a little pie with a filling made of cream, milk, eggs, sugar and some semolina. So far I've only tried the ones from the bakery chain Sutter and it was pretty yummy. It has chocolate bits in it!

I have actually seen a few other confiseries and cafés I need to try. So hopefully there will be an update soon. 

Tibits in Basel and Hiltl in Zürich

Finally I get around to writing a new post! I have just recently moved to Switzerland to start my first job post-university. The funny thing is that towards the end of my master's program I started wondering: "Hm, should I look for work in the US or in Germany? US or Germany? US or Germany?" And now, as fate would have it, I am in Switzerland! That pretty much took care of the tough decision of choosing one of my home countries over the other (although I had been leaning towards Germany...). Now I have a new home country. Two weeks ago I went to a conference in Frankfurt, Germany, and surprised myself by looking forward to going home--home being Switzerland. 

Before I even moved to Basel I started checking out its restaurants online. I had never been to Basel save the two job interviews I went to for my new job. The first restaurant I looked up was Hiltl, my favorite vegetarian restaurant in Zürich (and one of my favorite restaurants in the world!). I thought maybe they would have a branch here, but they don't. However, they do have a branch of the Hiltl-owned Tibits. Hiltl has a neat concept in that you can choose between a menu and a vast buffet. At Tibits you only have a smaller buffet and other ready-to-eat foods to choose from, such as sandwiches and pastries. Tibits is pretty good, but Hiltl is better. The photo at the top of this post is from a lunch at Tibits. One of my favorite buffet items are the fried breaded jalapeños filled with cream cheese. Mmhmm! My favorite drink is probably the hot chocolate, although the mango lassi dusted with garam masala (see photo above) was also pretty good. 

Below are photos from a dinner at Hiltl in October last year. The first dish is the fall vegetable platter with spelt Spätzle, mushrooms in cream sauce, sauerkraut, brussels sprouts, chestnuts and stewed pears. The second dish is a selection of curries and I can't remember exactly what the third dish is. I think it is also a curry of some sort. For dessert we shared the lovely brownie with vanilla ice cream and hot chocolate sauce. Mmmmmm! Hiltl also has a wide selection of freshly squeezed juices that are really tasty. Another good thing about Hiltl is that they also have vegan dishes for those who don't eat any animal protein. I sometimes wish they offered meat because I'm sure they would come up with some really tasty meat dishes, but that is not part of their concept. 

Homemade Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls

If there's one recipe involving yeast dough that is really worth your time it's cinnamon rolls! Oh my, I had no idea homemade cinnamon rolls tasted so much better than any purchased cinnamon rolls (at least any I have ever had). 

A while back I was searching the Saveur website and found a recipe for Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls. I showed it to my sister and we immediately decided we would have to make them some time. When Christmas rolled around, my sister decided to make the cinnamon rolls for Christmas Day breakfast. She prepared the dough and filling on Christmas Eve. When I arrived at her house that day I finished the recipe up to the point where you let the cinnamon rolls rise in the pan (we actually used a glass baking dish and it worked just fine). After letting the rolls rise for a while, we put them in the refrigerator overnight. When I woke up the next morning my sister had already baked the rolls and added the remaining melted butter. All I had to do was ice the rolls. I just used 1 cup of confectioners' sugar and water instead of buttermilk. Once the icing was on, we ate the rolls right away. Wow, there is nothing more delicious than a warm cream cheese cinnamon roll fresh out of the oven--mmhmm!

I recommend eating the cinnamon rolls as soon as possible since they become stale really fast. If you can't eat them (or serve them to other people) while they are still warm, I recommend reheating them. 

Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls

Makes 8 rolls

For the dough:

1 1/4-oz. package active dry yeast

1/2 tsp. plus 1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk, at room temp.

2 tbsp. light brown sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 3/4 cups flour, sifted, plus more for kneading

3/4 tsp. fine salt

8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temp., plus more for the pan

For the filling:

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup finely chopped pecans

1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

1/4 cup raisins

1 tbsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. fine salt

1/8 tsp. ground cloves

2 tbsp. maple syrup

4 oz. cream cheese, at room temp. 

8 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

For the icing: 

2 cups confectioners' sugar

1/4 cup buttermilk

1. Make the dough: In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a hook, combine yeast, 1/2 tsp. of the sugar, and 1/4 cup water heated to 115°. Stir to combine and let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes. Add remaining sugar, milk, light brown sugar, vanilla, egg, and egg yolk. Beat on low speed until thoroughly combined, 1 minute. Turn mixer off and add the flour and salt. Mix on medium speed until the dough just comes together. Turn mixer speed to high and knead dough for 4 minutes. Add the butter and continue kneading until dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, about 6 minutes. Remove bowl from the mixer, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside in a warm place. Let the dough rise for 1 1/2-2 hours, until it has doubled in size.

2. Meanwhile, make the filling: Combine the sugar, dark brown sugar, pecans, walnuts, raisins, cinnamon, salt, and cloves in a large bowl; stir to combine. Stir in the maple syrup. Set filling aside. 

3. Punch the dough down and turn it out onto a heavily floured surface. Gently knead the dough until it's no longer sticky, adding more flour as necessary, about 1 minute. Using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough into a 10" x 10" square. In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese with a rubber spatula until it's smooth and spreadable. Spread the cream cheese evenly over the dough square; the fold square into thirds as you would fold a letter to fit into an envelope. Take the open ends of the resulting rectangle and fold into thirds again, to  make a smaller dough square. Invert the dough so that the seam is face down and, using the rolling pin, gently roll into a 10" x 20" rectangle.

4. Turn the dough so that the short sides are parallel to you. Brush the top of the dough with half of the melted butter. Drizzle the reserved filling over the dough, leaving a 1" border at the edge farthest away from you. Lightly press the filling into the dough. Using your hands, lift up the bottom edge of the dough and roll it forward into a tight cylinder. Place dough cylinder, seam side down, on a cutting board and, using a thin, sharp knife, trim off the ends; cut cylinder crosswise into 8 equal-size slices. Nestle the slices, cut sides up and evenly spaced from one another, into a buttered 9" x 13" light-colored metal baking pan. Cover pan with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place to let rise for 2 hours. (Alternatively, the rolls may be refrigerated overnight.)

5. Heat oven to 375°. Uncover the rolls. (If refrigerated, let them sit at room temp. for 15 minutes). Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the rolls comes out clean, about 30 minutes. 

6. Make the icing: While the rolls are baking, whisk together the sugar and buttermilk in a small bowl until smooth. 

7. Transfer the pan of cinnamon rolls to a cooling rack; brush with remaining melted butter. Let cool for 5 minutes. Dip the tines of a fork into the icing and drizzle all over rolls. Serve immediately.