Tomato salad|Recipe & event tip

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Regular blog readers know that in addition to discovering and traveling to exciting destinations, we have another passion: tasting our way through the best regional dishes. We have deepened this passion over the past 12 months during the development of the book “Culinary Time Travel”, which will be published at the beginning of October; looked over the shoulders of the chefs of the 54 portrayed Swiss Historic Hotels and visited various regional producers. So I was immediately hooked when Bio Suisse asked me if I would be interested in taking up the topic of “market-fresh organic cuisine” on their blog as part of their organic street food event. With the event, Bio Suisse wants to show how delicious dishes can be prepared quickly and easily from seasonal organic vegetables. Next Saturday, raised beds with zucchini, cucumbers, lettuce, spinach, kale, kohlrabi, sweet potatoes and herbs will be set up on Kalanderplatz – and visitors will have the opportunity to “lend a hand” in the cooking studio.

Three weeks in advance, the raised beds keep the employees of the Müller farm in Steinmauer on their toes. We visited the farm and combined the excursion with a long-planned detour to Regensberg. It takes a good 45 minutes on foot from the idyllic village on the eastern Lägernkamm to the farm shop of Müller Steinmaur. An appetizing after-work stroll. The Müllers have always kept up with the times with their farm and offer an almost unbelievable variety of regionally and organically grown products. These include exotics such as ginger and sweet potatoes or well over twenty different varieties of potatoes and tomatoes. During the tomato season, Stephan Müller offers the Cherry Mix in the farm shop for CHF 7 per kilo: customers are spoilt for choice. I want to know what his favourite variety is from Stephan Müller. His answer comes without hesitation: “Oxheart”. “Pure!” he emphasizes. Since the cultivation of organic products usually requires significantly more working hours than the cultivation of conventional products (e.g. 500 working hours versus 25 working hours when growing carrots – huge, isn’t it?), nothing is thrown away on the Müller farm, but processed further. And so you can buy not only fresh vegetables in the farm shop, but also fine homemade sugos, syrups, etc.

Mixed tomato salad with mint, sheep’s cheese and walnuts

One of our dishes photographed as part of the book project was a tomato bread salad in the variation of the chef of the Seehotel Sonne in Küsnacht. For his recipe, he uses various Pro Specie Rara tomato varieties and combined them in just a few simple steps to create a phenomenal appetizer for tomato lovers. At that time, I was so enthusiastic about the combination of these different tomato varieties that it was immediately clear to me when I saw the tomato selection to pass on this tomato love to you in the form of an uncomplicated recipe. Unfortunately, there won’t be any raised beds with tomatoes on Kalanderplatz, but if you’re in the mood for a variety of tomatoes on your plate, you’ll find Müller Steinmaur’s market stall at the weekly BahnhofMarkt in Zurich’s main station. In addition, a second farm shop will soon open in Schwamendingen in the Mattenhof new building in an urban atmosphere. And this is how you can prepare an ultra-fine colorful tomato salad for two to three people in no time at all:

– approx. 5 different cherry tomatoes (e.g. Black Prince, Golden Queen, Baselbieter Röteli, Green Grapes, Red Robin)- approx. 3 different beef tomatoes (e.g. oxheart, Bernese roses, pineapple noir)- sheep’s cheese from Spitzebärg (also available in the Steinmaur farm shop)

– tree nuts
– Seetaler rapeseed oil
– balsamic vinegar
– fresh mint
– a little fleur de sel

1. Cut the tomatoes into fine pieces and mix them 2. Cut the sheep’s cheese into fine pieces and mix

them in 3. Roast the walnut kernels in a pan and sprinkle
on top 4. Add
2 tablespoons of Seetaler rapeseed oil and 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar 5. Garnish
with fresh mint 6. Season according to personal taste

And there you have it: Enjoy!

Bio Suisse Event “From fork to fork”

And food artist Sandro Zinggeler will present you even more uncomplicated and healthy recipe ideas at the organic street food event on 26 August 2017 at Sihlcity Zurich.