Gooey Tomme and Cabbage Salad
This recipe comes from Betty Bossi's Schwiizer Chuchi, a collection of traditional Swiss recipes. Each dish has a rating of one to three Swiss flags, designating just how Swiss it is. Although this recipe for Breaded Tomme Cheese and Red Cabbage Salad has a single flag, you can find similar dishes on enough Swiss menus to make it a classic.
Tomme vaudoise is a mild cheese produced in the Western part of Switzerland, sort of a small brie. The inside is creamy and mild, and the rind has a pungent, rustic taste.
On restaurant menus it is often breaded and fried, then served with salad, just like this recipe.
5 tbsp red wine vinegar
3 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp mustard
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp caraway seeds
1 small red cabbage, finely chopped
2 ripe pears, chopped
Mix the vinegar, oil, mustard, salt, pepper, and caraway seeds in the bottom of a large salad bowl.
Add the cabbage and pears and toss well to coat.
Cover and let rest for at least 2 hours before serving.
3 tbsp flour
1 egg
100 g breadcrumbs or crushed crackers
1 tbsp caraway seeds
4 Tommes (about 100g each)
butter for frying
You need three shallow bowls. In the first put the flour, in the second, the egg (lightly beat it), and in the third, put the breadcrumbs and caraway seeds, mixing gently.
Dip the Tommes first in the flour, then the egg, and finally the breadcrumb mixture, making sure to coat the cheese fully.
Heat a knob of butter in a frying pan until it bubbles. Place the cheese in the pan and fry each side for about two minutes.
Serve with salad.
- For the cabbage salad: it is important to use caraway seeds, which are commonly thought to help with the digestion of raw cabbage, as well as to let the salad sit for a couple of hours to help soften the leaves and prevent indigestion.
- I'm not sure how easy it is to get Tomme Vaudoise outside of Switzerland, but I suppose a small brie would also produce the same results. The Tommes are only about 8-10 cm in diameter and about 2-3 cm tall, so if you use a bigger cheese, increase the cooking time to make sure it melts fully.
