It's all about the cheese in Gruyère

Well we're back from Switzerland and boy did we eat well. One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to La Maison du Gruyère. The museum is a working cheese factory. So not only do you learn how the cheese is made, you see it being done right in front of you. The museum appeals to all your senses - you listen to a presentation about the cheese, you smell the local grasses and plants that the cows eat, and after paying you get a packaged sample of cheese (three pieces aged 30, 60 and 90 days) to eat.

Afterwards we went to the Restaurant de la Fromagerie at the museum to sample their wonderful fondue, which was half Gruyère and half vacherin cheese. As expected we dipped pieces of bread into the fondue pots. But another tradition with fondue is to drizzle the melted cheese on to small, white potatoes. Delicious!

The kids had Röstis Montagnard, which is fried shredded onions, potatoes and ham (like prosciutto) covered with melted Gruyère cheese. I couldn't decide who had the better meal, us or the kids.

Röstis Montagnard
(adapted from Lesley's Recipe Archive)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2-lbs potatoes, washed but not peeled
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/3-cup butter
• 1-large onion, peeled and shredded
• 1-garlic clove, minced 2-tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1-tbsp olive oil
• 1/4-lb proscuitto, thinly sliced
• 1 1/2-cups Gruyère cheese, shredded

Directions:

1. Cook the potatoes in a large saucepan of salted boiling water for about 10 minutes until just tender. Drain into a colander and then rinse with cold water. Drain again. Leave until cool enough to handle to peel off the skins.
2. Melt the butter in a large skillet and gently fry the onion and garlic for about 3 minutes until softened; remove from heat.
3. Shred the potatoes into a large bowl. Stir in the onion and garlic mixture with the potatoes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Heat the oil in a frying pan and cover the bottom of the pan with half of the potato mixture. Lay the slices of the proscuitto on top. Sprinkle with the cheese. Top with the remaining potato mixture, pressing on top to compact.
5. Cook over low heat, pressing down with a metal spatula for 10-15 minutes or until the bottom is golden. Place a plate over top of the rosti and invert the plate and pan together to flip the rosti onto the plate Gently slide the rosti back onto the pan to fry the other side and cook until golden.
6. Cut into wedges and serve

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Comments

[Claire Walter]

The Gruyere cheese factory is interesting indeed, but it's a factory. IMHO, if you are fortunate enough to be at a mountain farm in any of the Alpine countries where the farm family tends its own cows, milks them and makes their own cheese, you will experience the real timelessness of the European family cheesemaking tradition.

Within the span of a little over a year, I visited a mountain farm in the Jungfrau area of Switzerland where the family and the cattle spend the summers, and a farm on the outskirts of La Clusaz, France. Each farmer make is proud of his own cheese, made from the milk of his own cows. I brought some Reblochon back from La Clusaz, my last stop on that particular trip. It was was one of the finest cheeses I've ever eaten. and every bite transported me back to that village, that barn and that small cheesery. - Claire Walter, http://culinary-colorado.blogspot.com

[Chef Tom]

Thanks for sharing your lovely story about your trip to Switzerland... I hope to travel there at some point in my life. A few years back I went to Belgium and The Netherlands and loved exploring the culture and food. :-)