What I Ate in Austria
A couple weeks ago I spent three days hiking and eating my way through Lech and St. Anton, Austria. Here are some of the goodies I encountered…and devoured.
Breakfast
Europe means one thing to me: Nutella. Okay, okay, it means more to me than Nutella, but I do allow myself unlimited quantities of hazelnut spread while I’m there. And it’s everywhere! Look! Little individual Nutellas! Give me some delicious chocolate brioche and some Nutella and I’m good to go. Too much sweetness is never enough.
Main Courses
This was my first meal in Austria: Schlutzkrapfen (potato-filled pasta), a spinach dumpling, and a cheese dumpling in melted butter and parmesan. Heaven on a plate.
After one of our more strenuous hikes, this was the giant plate of pasta that was waiting for me at an Alpine “hut” (or small mountain restaurant). It’s spaghetti with kase rahmsosse, a rich Alpine cream sauce. One of my meat-eating colleagues got this traditional Austrian plate: hauswurst with sauerkraut and knodel. Both of these plates were under nine euros. Eating good in the neighborhood!
This was absolutely to die for: Chanterelle mushroom (native to St. Anton) ragu with spaetzle. Spaetzle is amazing.
We had three very fine dinners in Austria, with dishes that weren’t just showing off the country’s native cuisine: cream of avocado soup, chicken and veggies, tuna tartare, mangoes with chocolate, etc. I loved this crayfish on lettuce and carrot salad, Austrian or not.
Dessert
Even after the three course dinner and breakfast Swiss Airlines served, I was ravenous when I arrived in Lech. This special little bunt cake was waiting for me in my room. I have no idea what the sign next to it said, but that little beast did not last long. Dense and chocolaty, just the way I like it.
This was my last dessert(s) in Austria: homemade apple strudel with vanilla sauce and Calvados (apple brandy) ice cream, a little sugar wafer spoon, and mixed fruit. Jealous?
And this my friends, this is a famous Austrian dessert that I am hoping to replicate here at home. It’s called kaiserschmarrn and it’s like little ripped-up pieces of crepe, served with plum compote, apple sauce, or red currants. So good we had this dessert twice. A recipe I found is linked here.
Coffee Culture
Here’s an amazing newsflash: If you order an iced coffee in Austria (or Switzerland for that matter; is it everywhere in Europe?), you get a coffee ice cream sundae. Amazing!
