#5 Switzerland - More cheese please!

Bonsoir les amies – tonight was the turn of Switzerland to take centre stage in our tiny living room, and it certainly didn't disappoint!

Last week, Mr W was in Zurich for a meeting, and on his way through the airport he managed to grab some delicious and authentic goodies for us.

Our table was decked with the red and white flag of Switzerland, we had a musical accompaniment of yodeling from youtube - all that was missing was the Lederhosen and some cows – whilst we ate the first two courses.

We then settled down to watch my team, Sunderland, playing in the Football League Cup semi-final against Manchester United and waited until half time to serve the dessert as we were so stuffed!

The Menu

• Rösti potato with cervelat (brain) sausage – a Swiss specialty – and fried onions.
• Raclette – Swiss cheese which you melt in small pans under a grill, served with potatoes, gherkins, bread and cooked meats.  
• Toblerone fondue with marshmallows, banana and Swiss roll.

One little secret that Mr W kept from me about tonight's menu was the fact that cervelat sausage is traditionally made from animal brains. This surprise was only revealed after I had actually eaten it!! But the egg was on his face because I really enjoyed it. If I had known before what it was made of then I doubt I would have eaten it – but as the saying goes: "What you don't know doesn't hurt you". Whether the recipe still contains brains now I don't know but I suddenly feel more intelligent from eating it ;) 

Raclette cheese is one the most amazing and delicious cheeses ever. When it melts it goes really gooey and stretchy but still kind of keeps it's form, and is just so moreish, you will want to keep eating and eating until you feel you're going to burst (as we did tonight).

The Verdict

Very nice, simple fare but very heavy on the meat and potatoes. The Toblerone fondue, which was made by melting half a bar of Toblerone with about 100 mls of cream was really rich and delicious, but because of all of the cheese in the main course I really couldn't eat a lot. Overall a very respectable 7.5 out of 10, losing marks for how heavy each dish was but gaining marks for the simplicity, the very nice wine and for the fact that I'm in a very generous mood because Sunderland beat Manchester United and are now in the Football League Cup Final at Wembley!

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter for additional pics and news of our upcoming menus*, and tweet us some recipes from your favourite World Cup country.

* Argentina and the recommendation of  a professional player!