If you guessed Switzerland you are only half right.

I am in “Little Switzerland,” the affectionate name given to New Glarus, a Swiss-settled community in Green County, Wisconsin.

More specifically I am at the New Glarus Hotel Restaurant gorging on Swiss dishes and watching a fondue demonstration—but more about that later.

New Glarus isn’t new. The town dates to 1845 when immigrants fleeing a famine started arriving from the canton of Glarus in Switzerland (the real deal) to settle the Wisconsin land that so resembled their native alpine farmland. The colony became an official village in 1901 and remains the major Swiss center of North America, welcoming Swiss immigrants, upholding Swiss traditions and celebrating Swiss heritage.

So here are a few things you might not know about New Glarus and its surroundings (in no particular order):

1. In 1905, the New Glarus area sported so many cheese factories (22 to be exact) that the village was called “the cheese Capital of the World.” Production has slowed; nevertheless Green County still claims to have the largest concentration of specialty cheese factories and award winning cheese makers in the United States. The County hosts the National Historic Cheesemaking Center and a plethora of shops selling cheese as well as restaurants serving cheese-based dishes.

2. The first woman to operate a brewery in the United States was/is Deborah Carey, who with her husband Dan, opened the New Glarus Brewing Company in 1993. The brewery rocks on today and is well worth a visit.

3. At one time over 100 cheese makers around New Glarus produced Limburger cheese and the stinky stuff

Serving Baumgartner's Limburger sandwiches.

was considered so important to the community that it was used as legal tender. Today only one Limburger plant remains and that’s in Monroe, Wisconsin. The best place to try the cheese is also in Monroe at Baumgartner’s Cheese Store and Tavern, which opened in 1931 and is considered the oldest cheese store in Wisconsin. Baumgartner’s servers it’s Limburger sandwich on rye with raw onions. Talk about aroma…well, let’s not! I much prefer the scent of fondue, which brings us back to the New Glarus Hotel Restaurant.

Built by Swiss immigrants in 1853 as a rooming house for travelers, the New Glarus Hotel Restaurant now functions primarily as a restaurant serving authentic Swiss dishes and sometimes staging Swiss-style concerts, dances and even cooking demonstrations for tourists who come by the busloads.

The following recipe comes from their fondue demo led by Chef Roland Fürst. Should you like, you can add a dash of dry mustard to the recipe and it would still be authentic. Yodel-ah-ee-OOOoooo

CHEESE FONDUE

Chef Roland Furst making fondue.

Yield: About 4 servings.

1 cup plus 1/4 cup dry white wine, divided

4 cups (about 3/4 pound) shredded Appenzeller, Gruyere or Emmentaler cheese

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1-1/2 teaspoons very finely chopped fresh garlic

1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill

1/2 teaspoon white pepper

Pinch nutmeg

About 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons Kirsch

Crusty French bread, cut into bite size cubes

Put 1 cup wine in a heavy fondue pot.

Set pot over high heat and bring wine to a gentle boil. Reduce heat so that wine simmers.

Gradually stir cheese into wine. When the cheese melts and is smooth, stir in the lemon juice, garlic, dill, pepper and nutmeg.

Combine cornstarch with remaining wine. Add to cheese and stir well. Let cook a minute or two, stirring constantly, until fondue is thick and smooth. Stir in the Kirsch.

Serve immediately with bread chunks for dipping.

Chef Jason Greene

husband and wife team, Jason and Lauren Greene, the property is part restaurant, part coffee house (great espresso) and part shop (selling artisan food products, culinary gifts, table-top items and books). It is open only part of the day (breakfast and lunch) and part of the week (closed on Monday).

Even the Café menu breaks with tradition. In a city where chiles dominate and food specialties lean to the Native American and Hispanic, The Grove’s food inclines towards the French. But only part of the menu wears French names, and even that part deviates from traditional classics, as Chef Jason likes to add personal twists to his repertoire.

All and all, the sum of The Grove’s parts equals a whole lot to admire, not the least being wholesome food (based on locally grown, organic and natural ingredients) that is wholeheartedly delicious. Perfect example: The Grove Café’s Croque Madame.

CROQUE MADAME

Yield: 1 serving.

1 large slice whole-wheat sourdough bread

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Black pepper aioli (recipe follows)

3 thin slices Black Forest ham

3 thin slices heirloom tomatoes

1 ounce shredded Cheddar cheese

3 thin slices French Gruyere cheese

1 egg

Chopped parsley

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Brush bread with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Set in oven until lightly toasted, about 10 minutes. Let cool.

Spread a thin layer of black pepper aioli on one side of toasted bread. Add slices of ham. Top with tomato slices. Lightly salt and pepper tomato. Sprinkle shredded Cheddar over tomatoes and top with slices of Gruyere.  Set sandwich in oven until cheese melts, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, put a little olive oil in a small skillet, set skillet over medium heat and fry egg, sunny side up.

Remove sandwich from oven. Cut sandwich in half and stack one half over the other. Top with egg. Sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately.

The Grove is located at 600 Central Ave

BLACK PEPPER AIOLI

Yield: 1 cup.

1 cup mayonnaise

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon whole-grain mustard

1 garlic clove, peeled and minced

Combine all ingredients.

Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

FRENCH ONION SOUP

Yield: 4 serving.

4 large yellow onions

2 large red onions

2 shallots

1 leek

4 tablespoons butter

Salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1-1/2 teaspoons dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon paprika

Big pinch allspice

1/4 cup Cognac

About 7 cups good rich beef broth

1 bay leaf

Coarsely ground black pepper

Peel onions. Halve onions, lengthwise, and then cut, crosswise, into thin slices.

Peel shallots and cut into thin slices.

Trim root end and top green part off leek. Halve white portion, lengthwise, and then cut, crosswise, into thin slices.

Melt butter in a large soup pot. Add sliced onions, shallots and leek; with two large spoons, toss onion mixture to coat with butter.

Cook over moderate heat, tossing often, until onions begin to soften, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and sugar. Continue cooking, tossing occasionally in the beginning and more as onions start to brown, until onions caramelize and turn rich golden brown, about 1 hour.

Sprinkle thyme, paprika and allspice over onions and stir. Cook, stirring, 1 minute.

Pour Cognac over onions and boil until liquid almost disappears.

Add broth and bay leaf; stir gently.

Gently simmer soup until flavors are well developed, 1 to 1-1/2 hours (add a little water or more broth if liquid reduces too much).

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove bay leaf.

If not serving immediately, cool soup at room temperature, and then refrigerate in a covered container.

ONION SOUP GRATINÉED

Yield: 4 servings.

1 recipe French Onion Soup

4 to 8 toasted rounds of French baguette (recipe follows)

4 to 6 ounces shredded Gruyère cheese

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Set four individual ovenproof soup bowls or crocks on a baking sheet.

If the soup is cold reheat it. Pour hot soup into each bowl, giving each an equal amount. Top soup with one or two toast rounds (do not layer or overlap the rounds). Cover top of soup in each bowl with a generous layer of shredded cheese.

Set baking sheet in oven and bake until cheese melts and soup is bubbly around the edges, 10 to 15 minutes.

Serve immediately.

TOASTED BAGUETTE ROUNDS

Good crusty French baguette

Olive oil

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Slice baguette into rounds about 3/4-inch thick.

Brush both sides of each round with a little olive oil.  Set rounds in one layer on a baking sheet.

Place baking sheet in oven and bake, turning once, until rounds are dry, crisp and golden brown, 20 to 30 minutes.

Suzanne Goin meets the press.

Spent an afternoon sipping and sampling as well as watching and photographing the food paparazzi who were sipping and sampling and watching and photographing chef Suzanne Goin and actress JoBeth Williams in Suzanne’s Los Angeles restaurant Lucques. Suzanne is caterer of choice for the awards and JoBeth represents the show committee that helped choose the menu.

JoBeth Williams

Both women agreed that cooking for the 1250 super-stars and their entourages attending the event presented some challenges, not the least of which was choosing the five menu items that were to be arranged on one plate and placed on the table before the ceremony begins. Nominees for menu items had to meet rigid criteria. According to JoBeth, the food had to be:

1. Beautiful;

2. Able to sit at room temperature for a long period of time without diminishing in flavor or appearance;

3. Easy to eat (nothing to drip on satin gowns, nothing to leave small particles in the perfectly capped, whitened teeth of presenters and acceptors);

4. Accommodating to different diets (vegetarian, low calorie, no sugar, etc. etc. etc.);  and

5. Truly tasty.

And the menu winners were:

Blood Oranges with Dates, Arugula and Parmesan

Beluga Lentils with Carrots, Pinenuts and Feta

Slow-Roasted King Salmon with Cucumbers, Yogurt and Ginger-Mint Chutney

Slow-Roasted Lamb with Chickpeas, Black Olives and Feta Salsa Verde

Fresh Baked Herbed Crostini with Parmesan, Chopped Thyme and Parsley

ARUGULA WITH BLOOD ORANGES, DATES AND PARMIGIANO REGGIANO

(Adapted from a recipe supplied by Suzanne Goin. Suzanne’s recipe calls for olive oil to dress the dish. The Blood Orange Vinaigrette recipe comes from one of Suzanne’s chefs at her Los Angeles restaurant AOC and makes a flavorful substitute for the oil alone.)

Yield: 6 servings.

4 large blood oranges

1/4 pound chunk Parmigiano Reggiano

2 ounces arugula

15 Deglet Noor dates, pitted and halved, lengthwise

6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or Blood Orange Vinaigrette, recipe follows)

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Cut away all peel and white pith from oranges. Cut oranges, crosswise, into thin circles; set aside.

Place the cheese, flat side down, on a cutting board. Using a chef’s knife, shave cheese into 18 large, thin slices.

Scatter 1/3 of the arugula on a large platter.

Arrange 1/3 of the oranges, dates and cheese over the arugula. Repeat layering, letting the ingredients weave together, but not pile up on one another.

Drizzle oil (or vinaigrette) over the top of ingredients and season lightly with salt and pepper.

BLOOD ORANGE VINAIGRETTE

Yield: 1 cup.

2 tablespoons finely chopped shallot

About 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (or enough to cover shallot)

6 tablespoons blood orange juice

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Put shallots in a small bowl. Add lemon juice to cover. Let sit 10 minutes. Stir in blood orange juice and vinegar. Slowly whisk in oil.

HERBED CROSTINI

Yield: 6 crostini.

6 slices of baguette, each 9-inches long and 1/4-inches thick

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

6 tablespoons grated Parmesan

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme

1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Brush both sides of bread with oil.

Place bread, in one layer, on a baking sheet. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon Parmesan over top of each piece of bread. Combine herbs and sprinkle top of Parmesan coated bread, dividing herb mixture evenly among the 6 slices of bread.

Set baking sheet in oven and bake until bread is golden and crispy, 7 to 10 minutes.

1. OLD TOWN sits in the historic heart of Albuquerque and the neighborhood (which is full of authentic Spanish Colonial buildings housing restaurants, galleries, shops and museums) is as much a city center as was when the city was founded in 1706.

2. ROUTE 66 is greatly touted in history books, songs and legends, but nowhere is the spirit of this Mother Road kept alive than in Albuquerque. The name has changed to Central Avenue, but the kicks are still available at any number of great places stretching through Albuquerque’s Downtown area and trendy Nob Hill District.  Personal favorite restaurants along the route:

66 DINER (A diner with old-fashioned décor serving usual diner fare with a NM twist—I’m talking chiles here.)

FRONTIER (A local favorite for wonderfully gooey sweet rolls and inexpensive meals.)

KELLY’S BREW PUB (The quintessential brew pub with good bar food and great handcrafted beers—you can even brew and bottle your own.)

THE GROVE CAFÉ AND MARKET (This light, bright, contemporary café/shop, open only for breakfast, brunch and lunch, focuses on organic and natural foods.)

3. CULTURAL CENTERS

The INDIAN PUEBLO CULTURAL CENTER represents the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico with informative cultural and artistic displays and, on weekends, special Native American dancing and ceremony performances. The center also houses a good gift shop and the PUEBLO HARVEST CAFÉ, serving a luscious sampling of authentic Native American dishes.

The NATIONAL HISPANIC CULTURAL CENTER showcases Hispanic culture through exhibition galleries, performing arts theatre, and the LA FONDA DEL BOSQUE restaurant (try the lunch buffet of traditional New Mexico cuisine). New to the NHCC offerings and not-to-be-missed spectacular is the 4,000 square-foot Torreon Fresco by Frederico (call to see when it’s open and plan your trip accordingly—trust me. This is a must.)

4. SANDIA PEAK TRAMWAY climbs 2.7 miles from desert floor to the 10,378-foot peak of the Sandia Mountains, offering breathtaking views of the Rio Grande Valley.

5. PETROGLYPH NATIONAL MONUMENT stretches over 17 miles and holds around 20,000 ancient images that have been etched or pecked into stone by ancestral Native Americans and early Spanish settlers. Visitors can get close up and personal views of many of the petroglyphs from various hiking trails.

6. BALLOONS have taken off, both literally and figuratively on the ABQ scene. Year-around hot-air balloon rides, an International Balloon Fiesta and the Albuquerque International Balloon Museum make Albuquerque the world’s hot-air ballooning capital of…well…of anywhere.

7. THE GREAT OUTDOORS and ABQ’s mild, high-altitude climate infused with sunshine, lures visitors as well as locals for hiking, biking, golf and other outdoor sports and pleasures.

8. MURALS by different artist decorate the city making it a veritable museum of open-air art. Most of the murals are painted on private buildings, but a handful grace public walls and were commissioned by the city and supported by tax dollars.

9. HOTEL ANDALUZ was built by NM native Conrad Hilton in 1939, and took honors as the tallest building in NM and the first to boast air conditioning. Today’s Four Diamond Hotel Andaluz still racking up the accolades, this time as the most sustainable historic hotel in the nation. It is also one of the most charming and the IN place to stay, drink and dance (tango in the lobby) as well as dine (at the hotel’s 4-star LUCIA restaurant).

10. CHILES rock. Chiles rule. Chilies dominate Albuquerque’s food scene flavoring practically everything including cookies, nuts, jams, candy and most of the dishes in most of the food outlets. Guess one could find a restaurant without chiles on the menu (but who would want to). The state’s “official question” remains, “Red or green?”  (Respond “Christmas” and you’ll get both.) Three hot places to sample chile magic:

GOLDEN CROWN PANADERIA (A bakery specializing in pizza, coffee and New Mexican baked goods including a green-chile bread. Show up early in the day for the baked goodies as they sell out quickly.)

EL PINTO AUTHENTIC NEW MEXICAN RESTAURANT (A widely popular cavernous place—seats up to 1,000 diners—with it’s own salsa and chile factory. Wash down the chile dishes with divine margaritas.)

SADIE’S OF NEW MEXICO (A perpetual “best of the city” award winner for the restaurant as well as for a variety of individual popular New Mexican dishes.) Although he wouldn’t divulge the official recipe, Executive chef Brian Stafford gave the following as a reasonable facsimile for the prize-winning Chile con Queso served at Sadie’s:

CHILE CON QUESO

Yield: About one quart. (The recipe can be halved.)

8 ounces butter

1 cup diced onion

1 cup diced tomato

1 cup diced green chile  (can used Hatch select canned diced green chile, well drained)

1 pound or more diced or shredded American cheese or a mixture of American and Swiss. (“Kraft sliced singles work,” says Brian)

Melt butter. Add onion, tomato and chile and gently sauté until onions are translucent and falling apart, 10 to 15 minutes (do not brown the onions). Add cheese, a little at a time, stirring constantly until mixture is smooth and creamy.  Serve hot with fresh tostados.

For more information about  Albuquerque see: www.itsatrip.org.

Sea Island has a habit of winning the hospitality industry’s top awards, racking up five stars for luxurious accommodations, world-famous golf and wonderful Southern-accented food.

Although the resort’s dining venues include the fancy formal, casual clubby and beachside basic, all of the restaurants serve bacon-packed cornbread muffins on request.

“We don’t dare stop making these muffins,” said one chef,  “generations of guests returning to Sea Island year after year wouldn’t stand for it.”

The chef also said that the muffins are best if the batter is made in advance and refrigerated about 24 hours before baking. This advance prep works to the advantage of busy home cooks who can, with almost no effort, serve home-made hot muffins in a variety of situations including breakfast for houseguests, informal family dinners and dinner-party extravaganzas.

BACON CORNBREAD MUFFINS Photo by Katherine Bish

SEA ISLAND RESORT’S

BACON CORNBREAD MUFFINS

Yield: 24 muffins

1 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs

1/4 cup (2 to 3 strips) cooked crumbled bacon

1 (14-3/4 ounces) can creamed corn

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1-1/2 cups yellow cornmeal

1-1/4 cups bread flour

3 tablespoons baking powder

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons milk

Shortening to grease muffin cups

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Add remaining ingredients and mix until well incorporated. Refrigerate batter in a covered container for at least 24 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400°F.  Generously grease 24 (2-1/2 inch) muffin cups. Spoon batter into cups and bake until muffins are set and golden brown, about 18 minutes. Serve muffins while they are warm.

Michaël Dessimiroff gave me the recipe many years ago, when he was chef on the Horizon II, a hotel barge floating the canals of France. Trained as a pastry chef before joining the barge staff, Michaël baked particularly marvelous quiches, one for every day of the trip.  He said that the secret to a great crust is to not overwork the dough and to refrigerate the dough after each handling. He also said that cooks can make a variety of different quiches by using one basic recipe and altering a few flavoring ingredients.

Although it can be done, I can’t imagine altering Michaël’s Pear and Roquefort Quiche as to me it was the pièce de résistance of his entire quiche repertoire, offering a flawless balance of delicate flavors and a perfect ratio of rich buttery crust to soft custard filling. Also I can’t imagine any real man refusing this quiche—although, mon dieu, I do keep trying to find one.

PEAR AND ROQUEFORT QUICHE

2-1/2 ounces (about 1/3 cup) Roquefort cheese (or good quality blue cheese)

1/2 cup whipping cream

3 eggs

1/4 cup sour cream

1-1/2 cups whole milk 

Pinch each: nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, ginger

Salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

1 tablespoon fine, dry bread crumbs

1 partly baked 10-inch pastry shell (recipe follows)

1 small pear, peeled, cored and thickly sliced

1 to 2 teaspoons honey

On a plate, using a fork, mash cheese with some of the cream to form a smooth paste; transfer to a medium bowl. Gently beat in remaining cream. Add eggs and beat until mixture is blended, but not foamy. Whisk in sour cream, milk, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, salt and pepper; set aside.

Sprinkle bread crumbs in center of pastry shell. Arrange pear slices in a circular pattern over crumbs and drizzle with honey. Set pan on a baking sheet. Stir egg mixture and pour into shell. Bake in a preheated 375°F oven until quiche has puffed slightly and top has lightly browned, 30 to 35 minutes.

Cool slightly on a rack. Release side and bottom of pan and slide quiche onto a serving platter. Serve quiche warm or at room temperature.

Yield: About 8 servings.

PASTRY SHELL

2 cups all-purpose flour plus additional flour for rolling dough

12 tablespoons chilled salted butter, cut into pieces

1 egg, beaten

Pinch salt

Sift 2 cups flour into a mixing bowl. Add butter. With fingertips, rapidly rub butter and flour together until mixture is in small crumbs. Make a well in center; add egg and salt. Stir gently with a fork to incorporate egg, then gather ingredients into a rough ball and knead gently and quickly to form a dough. Put dough on a flat surface and, with the heel of your hand, smear about three tablespoons of the dough into a thin streak; repeat until all dough has been smeared once. Gather dough into a smooth ball, flatten ball, wrap with plastic or foil, and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

Roll dough on a lightly floured surface to an 11- to 12-inch circle. Transfer to a 10-inch, false-bottomed quiche pan and gently maneuver dough to line pan. Turn excess overhang into pan and press to make double-thick sides to the pastry case. Trim off excess dough. Prick at 1/4-inch intervals with the tines of a fork. Place a sheet of foil, shiny side down, in pan and smooth over dough. (The foil should be large enough to come about 2 inches above rim of pan on all sides.) Refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Fill foil lining with pastry weights, dried beans or uncooked rice. Bake in preheated 425°F oven until bottom of shell is set and sides are beginning to brown, 14 to 16 minutes. Remove foil and weights. Return shell to oven and bake 2 minutes. Remove pan from oven and put on a rack to cool.

Yield: One 10-inch pastry shell, partly baked.