Recipes


    One of the exciting things about my new home in the Swiss Chablais is the mind-boggling array of world-famous cheese produced all around me. This is where raclette, Switzerland’s most iconic melting cheese comes from and I have recently discovered a beautiful mountain farm I can hike to that produces an excellent version of it. The regions of Emmental, Gruyere, Abondance,…

For the first time in 15 years I don’t have a vegetable garden to tend. Instead I have two small planters filled with some fresh herbs I can’t live without (lovage, parsley, chives, basil and coriander). While I miss Petraia’s amazing orto, to be honest I don’t miss all the work that went with it. The organic produce I can…

  I was never much of a fruit cake fan until I started drying the figs, grapes, mulberries, hazelnuts and almonds we harvested at Petraia. Then I began researching traditional European holiday fruit breads in an effort to find easy and delicious ways to preserve them. There are probably hundreds, if not thousands, of these breads…

  At this time of the year in Northern Europe the Belgian endive is making its annual appearance, and it stays most of the winter.  It is one of my winter go-to vegetables because it is locally grown, a good keeper and extremely versatile. It can be used in salads but is also lovely braised, grilled, roasted…

  If you happen to be going to a farmer’s market this weekend you’re likely to find some fresh local grapes. Here’s a great way to enjoy them. As promised in my last post this is my version of the delicious grape bread made every fall in Tuscany to celebrate the vendemmia (grape harvest).  Over the years I’ve…

A basic dough for flatbreads of all kinds. This recipe is easy and it produces excellent results. And its great for a heatwave. Lately we’ve been experiencing Europe’s worst heat wave of this young century so I’ve been trying, as much as possible, to stay out of the kitchen. We’ve been eating a lot of pizza, flatbread and…

I’ve been serving sesame snaps made with our honey for years and I’ll admit I’m a bit an addict. Like most of our recipes, this one is a little difficult to pin down because it abides in a perpetual state of evolution. Each time we make them I tweek the formula a little. But in the past few months they’ve been getting…

I like to add crunch to creamy dishes with these delicious polenta crackers. At Petraia we serve polenta crack with our apperitivi or we use them as garnish with creamy fonduta, eggs, braises and of course creamy polenta.  These are reminiscent of corn chips or tortilla chips but I think they are way more interesting. Stay tuned…