Zürcher Geschnetzeltes with Rösti

The title might be misleading. Zürcher Geschnetzeltes is one of the traditional Swiss dishes, "meat cut into strips Zurich style." Traditionally veal. Here, no meat but Tofu.

I was researching what authentic Swiss dishes were and found a website "SwissComminity.org," created by the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA), an independent, non-governmental organization supporting Swiss Community locally and world-wide.

Their Zurich page had a great picture of Zürcher Geschnetzeltes, saying "tender, succulent veal with a light-coloured sauce of cream, mushrooms and white wine is one of the most popular and best-known Swiss dishes." Bingo! The webpage had a link that jumped to a recipe (written in German), which inspired my recipe. My version was lighter, healthy and had lovely lemon flavor. It tasted wonderful!

The traditional side dish for Zürcher Geschnetzeltes is a crisp Rösti, or potato pan cake. Why shouldn't I make one? I followed a recipe from March 2007 issue of Cook's Illustrated "How to Make Potato Roesti." With just right amount of melted Baby Swiss cheese on the top, this could be one of my most favorite potato dishes.

By the way, why did we have Swiss dishes? Because J picked Switzerland when I asked him which country he would like to go last night. He picks a country; I make dishes of the country. That's a simple rule of our dinner virtual travel.

Where would J like to go next?

Zürcher Geschnetzeltes (Tofu version)
SERVES 2 with extra sauce

1 tbs butter
1/2 onion, finely chopped
8 oz white mushroom, sliced
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup beef broth
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 tbs Wondra flour (or corn starch)
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp lemon zest
black pepper and salt
chopped parsley

1 pack extra firm Tofu
all purpose flour

1. For sauce, melt butter in a pan, saute onion and mushroom.
2. Stir in white wine, bring to boil, cook 1 min, stir in beef broth, bring to boil, simmer 10 min.
3. Stir in Wonder flour, bring to boil, simmer 5 min, stir in cream, simmer 1 min.
4. Stir in lemon juice, lemon zest, adjust taste with pepper and salt.
5. For Tofu steak, wrap Tofu with paper towel, microwave 2 min to drain extra water.
6. Slice Tofu, wipe both sides with paper towel, dust both sides with a little amount of flour.
7. Pan-fry sliced Tofu with a little oil, 3 min per side.
8. Spoon sauce on pan-fried Tofu, garnish with parsley.