Hearty Alpine Cuisine The Perfect Chill Chaser

 Mountain folk know how to eat. Alpine cuisine is hearty, flavorful and filling - perfect for these cold days ahead. It's embracing delicious dishes that can chase away the chill.

Everyone thinks that alpine cuisine just means Swiss food but it encompasses much more. There's also the food of the Northern Italian, French and Southern German alpine area as well. All the foods are rich with cheese and butter as well as with protein.It has to be this way because the inhabitants of these beautiful mountain regions need heavy foods to combat the brutal winters and freezing temps. Swiss cuisine is indicative of this. One recipe that's sure to win over an American crowd is hacktatschli smashed meatballs served with a creamy mushroom sauce. This is a favorite all over the country with Swiss school kids even though it has a glug of white wine added. There's a potato version kartoffel hatscchli which can be served with the sauce as well. From the canton Uri comes rispor or leek risotto rich with the winter veggie and topped with clouds of  the Swiss-Italian cheese sbrinz. This is the perfect dish for those frosty nights in with the family. Bakers will love spinatwahe or spinach quiche a mix of the green along with garlic, herbs and cream tucked into a buttery pie shell.

The Italian alpine regions of Piedmonte and Lombardy bring us rich rice or risotto dishes. Both are made with the chewy long grain arborio rice; the only difference being is that the Piedmontese use tomato sauce  for flavor while the Lombards use saffron. This a great and easy chill chaser to make  for a cold snowy night. Usually reserved for parties , the Piedmontese bagna calda is a tasty fun dinner for a family weekend in. The name means hot bath and is a blend of anchovies, butter, olive oil and garlic melted and heated in a fondue pot. savoy cabbage leaves are the traditional add in but you can also add semi cooked London broil for a truly filling meal (along with crusty Italian bread for mopping up the sauce in the pot afterwards). Swiss chard and potatoes can also be dipped in along with onions, celery and spinach. Across the Alps in the Swabia home chefs make the warmly satisfying Gaisburger Marsch, a nourishing beef stew rich with potatoes and spaetzle, the little dumpling noodles. Spaetzles are also made and served with large heaping spoonfuls of sauerkraut and a platter of different wursts. This is a great weekend meal because it requires  steaming or boiling everything.

Alpine cuisine means hearty foods served in even heartier quantities. These are perfect for the cold months ahead. Make them and feel cozy on the inside and out.