Thriller Main Courses

 
Vreni's Basler Flour soup ("Chienbäse")

Ingredients:
1 onion
5 tbsp flour
50 g butter
1 l bouillon
100 g grated cheese (for example Gruyère)

Method:
Peel the onion and cut it into small pieces. Stir and roast the flour in a pan at medium heat without fat until it is hazelnut brown. Do not let it get too dark. Leave to cool.
Sauté the onion in the melted butter. Mix in the flour. Add the bouillon. Stir and bring it to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 1 hour. Stir occasionally.
Serving:
Serve the soup into soup bowls and sprinkle the grated cheese on top or serve separately.

Vreni's Liestaler cheesecake ("Chienbäse")

Ingredients for a round baking tray of 26 cm
Cake dough:
100 g (cold) butter
200 g flour
½ tsp salt
70 ml water
Topping:
2 dl milk
1 tbsp flour
100 g plain yogurt
100 g onion
200 g grated Emmental
pepper
salt
nutmeg

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200 °C. Cut the butter into small pieces and mix with the flour and salt. Add the water and mix everything together to form a soft dough (do not knead).
Mix the milk with the flour and bring to the boil while stirring. Add the yoghurt. Slice the onion thinly and mix with the cheese and the yoghurt-milk mixture. Season with pepper, salt and nutmeg. Roll out the dough and place it in the baking tray. Prick the dough base with a fork and spread the cheese mixture on top. Bake for approx. 40 minutes until it is golden brown.
Serving:
Tastes best warm, but can also be served cold. It goes well with salad.

Jamila's Couscous ("Aargauer Grauen")

Ingredients:
4 dl vegetable bouillon
200 g couscous
20 g butter
50 g raisins
50 ml orange juice
75 g almond slivers
80 g dried apricots
4 to 5 dried dates
15 to 20 fresh peppermint leaves
1⁄2  tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp cinnamon
1⁄2 tsp cayenne pepper
1⁄2 tsp cardamom


Method:
Bring the bouillon to the boil. Add the couscous and leave to soak (bis aufgequollen). Add the butter and mix with the couscous. Soak the raisins in the orange juice for a couple of minutes. Roast the almond slivers without fat in frying pan. Cut the apricots and dates into small pieces and chop the fresh mint leaves. Add the spices, mint leaves, fruits and orange juice to the couscous with the raisins and mix everything together.

Moudschärre of Andrina's grandma ("Der Fluch von Aarau")

Ingredients:
500 g flour
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
1 – 2 bags yeast
60 g butter cut in small pieces
3 dl lukewarm milk
topping:
grated cheese and bacon cubes or grated apples, raisins, cinnamon, sugar (if needed)

Method:
Knead all ingredients into a smooth dough. Cover the dough and leave in a warm place to rise. Roll it out to round flat cakes.
savoury version: Spread cheese and bacon cubes on top.
sweet version: mix apples raisins cinnamon, sugar and spread on top.
Start at one corner and fold all to the centre, until you are around. Bake it in the oven at a temperature of 200 °C approx. 20 – 30 minutes. Leave to cool.
Serving:
Tastes best when fresh.

Fatima's vegetable and feta casserole("Liestaler Zwielicht")

Ingredients:
800 g cherry tomatoes
1 medium-sized eggplant
1 medium-sized zucchini
400 g cooked chickpeas
400 g feta cheese
150 g black (pitted) olives
2 to 3 cloves of garlic
1 red onion
4 to 5 tbsp oil
2 to 3 tsp liquid honey
salt
pepper
cayenne pepper

Preparation:
Cut the cherry tomatoes into two pieces. Peel the zucchini and eggplant and cut into small cubes. Finely chop the onion and garlic. Rinse and drain the chickpeas. Add the olives. Put everything together in a bowl and mix. Mix the olive oil with the honey and season with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Pour the marinade over the vegetables. Mix everything together and place on a baking tray. Cut the feta into small cubes and spread over the vegetables. Bake in the oven at 180°C for about 30 minutes until the cheese turns brown. Do not mix. Serve with rice or pizza bread. If you don't like feta, you can use mozzarella instead.

Christa's wild garlic pasta  ("Liestal Gold")

Ingredients:
400 g pasta (farfalle)
500 g cherry tomatoes
1 - 2 spring onions
4 - 6 tsp wild garlic pesto (according to taste)
80 g pine nuts
2 tbsp ground hazelnuts
100 g grated Parmesan flakes
1 tbsp olive oil
Pepper, Salt
Pesto:
100 g fresh wild garlic
30 g pine nuts
30 g parmesan
80 to 100 ml olive oil
½ tsp salt ,Pepper

Method:
Cook the pasta in salted water. Puree the ingredients for the pesto and season with pepper. Roast  the pine nuts and then the ground hazelnuts separately until golden brown. Heat the olive oil in the pan. Add the cherry tomatoes and heat, turning, for two to three minutes . Cut the spring onions into rings and the white onion into pieces. Mix with the tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Drain the pasta water and mix first the pesto with the pasta. Then add the tomatoes and the spring onions and the pine nuts.
Serve it on plates and sprinkle with the parmesan and the roasted hazelnuts.

Here you will find more thriller recipes from my books: