Switzerland – Food Love After Gornegrot
A view like the one in Gornegrot served only to make us hungry. It was getting to be dinner time and we were up for something a little fancy. The Ginabelle, the hotel we were staying in, hosts a five course dinner every night. I posted an instagram review of this meal on the instagram account culinaryxchange. It was a delicious meal, in some cases a bit quirky, but it still deserved high marks. The meal and experience was awarded 3.5 WOWs out of 4. Here is a run down of the menu…
3.5 out of 4 WOWs for this menu! Great food!
It was an early night. We slept well and were up early for a typical Swiss hotel breakfast. They are light buffets with plenty of bread choices, cheese and meats (ham or salami), and yogurt (Switzerland is big on dairy) It is all those Swiss Brown cows) plus eggs to order and that most famous of Swiss breakfast items – Birchermuesli. Birchemuesli is the Swiss answer to Oatmeal, made with oats, milk, yogurt, nuts and fruit. Served cold, it makes for a great start of the day. For the most part, bakeries and coffee shops will have Birchemuesli on the menu. Many offer it to go.
Here is a simple way to make Birchemuesli…
- 1/2 pound rolled oats
- 2 cups milk
- 1 granny smith apple, grated
- 2 cups yogurt, any flavor you like
- 1/2 pound fresh or frozen fruit
- nuts (any type you like) to taste
- sugar or honey to taste
- Combine the oats and milk and refrigerate over night.
- Add remaining ingredients
- Mix well, serve
There is so much you can do with the above recipe. Just by varying the yogurt flavor you can easily create a new Birchermuesli. Of course, with all the greek yogurts available an extra creamy Birchermuesli can be made with out the fat. If you want a vegan variety, use juice instead of milk and soy based yogurts.
After breakfast we were off to Sunnega Paradise to do some light hiking and catch a different view of the Matterhorn. We ride a funnicular or cog wheel train that is set at a steep angle with the seats and floors kept at right angles so passengers can ride comfortably. It is a quick trip up. From Sunnega you can hike to see the 5 mountain lakes. If you get the angles right, you can catch a glimpse of the Matterhorn’s reflection in them.
Even in these mountain areas you are never far away from a nice cafe, Sunnega is no exception. It is civilized. For lunch, a plate of meats and cheeses from the Walliser region. Our plate had Trokenfleish – Dried Beef, Speck – Bacon, Ham, Dried Sausage and Gruyere. Served with rustic pieces of bread, cornichon and pickled onions it is a plate from heaven. Mmmm…delicious. We topped this off with delicious apple strudel and a panache (half beer half sprite). The apple strudel in Switzerland is abundant and delicious! So good, anytime of day!
Apple Strudel with Vanilla Sauce and a Panache
We left Sunnega and spent sometime shopping in Zermatt. An afternoon snack occasion appeared on main street. At the metzgerei – the local butcher, they were grilling wurst. A piping hot shubling was in order. A schubling is an all beef wurst. It is the close cousin to, but nowhere near as famous as, the klopfur or cervelat. Cervelat, a beef and pork wurst, is the king of wurst in Switzerland! Oh so tasty! A few years ago there was public concern that the cervelat could be no more. The beef casing of the cervelat had mad cow issues. It seems they have been fixed as we were able to get a delicious cervelat without issue in Basel the next day. When in Switzerland you will also find cervelat served as part of a salad. The other popular wurst is a veal bratwurst or St. Gallen brat. It is found grilled, but also served in restaurants with a hearty onion sauce. You may also come across merguez, a spicy thin sausage, too, YUM! Wurst are served simply with a piece of bread and some mustard, ketchup, or mayonnaise. Wurst is ubiquitous in Switzerland! There is not a town or even that is wurst free!
A shubling, hot off the grill!
Cervelat – King of Swiss Wurst
We capped off our trip with another 5 course meal at the Ginabelle…it was tasty!
5 Courses at the Ginabelle!
Dried Meat Tartar
Gazpacho
Lambs Lettuce Salad
Beef with Carrots and Herbed Risotto
Strawberry Parfait
We were stuffed! It was so good!
After a good rest, we hopped an early train back to Basel to our flight home! It was a delicious trip to Switzerland. Great food, great views and great fun! Switzerland should certainly be on your list of places to see!
Keep Eating! Keep Innovating!
Have you been to Switzerland? Tell us about your time in Switzerland in the comments or on Facebook.
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