Après Ski Like a Pro at the Condo

Here are several fast, easy and delicious après-inspired treats that you can whip up in your condo or home.

High West Deviled Eggs

You’re on vacation!

Tip: Chock full of protein, these eggs (and bacon) make a great breakfast option, too.

Ingredients

Steps
1. Hard-boil the eggs. 
2. Cook bacon.*
3. Slice eggs in half lengthwise. Place yolks in  a bowl and whites on a plate.
4. Slice bacon strips into one-inch pieces and put aside.
5. Mix egg yolks through vinegar in a bowl until smooth. Spoon fillings into the egg whites.
6. Top with bacon pieces.
7. Optional: Glaze cooked bacon with jalapeño jelly and cook for an additional 3 minutes.

Pear-Ricotta Crostini

This instant, no-cook recipe works for après or breakfast and might replace your dining-out favorite, avocado toast. The secret here is ricotta cheese, which is as much like cottage cheese as buffalo mozzarella is to the shredded stuff in a bag. Don’t think of this as “fancy food;” on the Italian side of the Alps, this is how they après. Ricotta is available at most grocery stores, but if the store carries a whole milk, hand-dipped variety (no one counts calories on a ski trip), you don’t have to worry about it going to waste; you’ll dip your spoon in it after everyone has gone to sleep.

Ingredients
1 baguette or loaf of fresh bread, sliced thick
1 8-12 ounce container whole milk Ricotta
1 ripe pear, sliced thin
Honey
¼ cup Walnuts pieces 

Steps
1. Top each baguette slice with ricotta (spread generously, like cream cheese on a bagel) and pear slices.
2. Drizzle the honey and sprinkle with walnuts.

Straw-Brie Brûlée 

This easy appetizer or dessert will have everyone in your condo — and Instagram followers — asking for more. Caramelized strawberries are balanced with an herby basil leaf or a slice of Brie (feel free to go for a creamy triple cream). 

Ingredients
8 Strawberries, halved lengthwise
8 tbsp sugar (brown or white)
8 Basil leaves
Small wedge (two-fingers) Brie cheese

Steps
1. Slice each strawberry in half and in half again just enough to “flatten” (ok, fine, to snack on outsides).
2. Place the 16 strawberry halves in an oven-proof baking dish.
3. Spoon 1 tbsp sugar on top of 8 of the strawberry halves.
4. Broil in the oven (or torch if you’re staying in a bougie rental) until sugar is melted and brown. Watch carefully to avoid burning!
5. When cool to touch, place the 8 strawberry bottoms (without sugar) on a plate, top each with a basil leaf, slice of Brie and strawberry top (with brûlée facing up).
6. Grab one for yourself before everyone else gobbles them up!

Tater Tot Casserole

The Swiss have their Rosti. The French may have courgettes. Americans have the beloved frozen tater tot. Partially cooked in a freezer case near you, inexpensive and delicious…what’s not to love? On their own or dressed up for this adapted après ski shareable skillet, these pressed petite potatoes remain a fan and family favorite. As Napoleon Dynamite queried, “You gonna eat your tots?” 

Ingredients
Vegetable oil
½ cup Onion, chopped
1 lb Spinach, chopped
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1 cup Milk
1 cup Heavy Cream
½ cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, grated
½ cup (about 4 oz) Gruyère cheese, grated
Salt and Pepper
3 eggs
1 lb Protein (Ground Pork, Chorizo, Chicken or Turkey, Scrambled Eggs or nothing if meatless)
2 lbs Frozen Tater Tots
Canola oil cooking spray

Steps
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. In cast-iron or other oven-proof skillet,* saute onion until soft. Add garlic and spinach (in batches until wilted).
3. Stir in milk and cream and reduce until liquid is largely evaporated.
4. Add cheeses. Salt and pepper, to taste.
5. When cheeses are melted, transfer to a large bowl and stir to cool slightly (so eggs don’t cook when you add them).
6. Mix in eggs and stir.
7. Wipe skillet, add 1 tbsp oil and cook protein.
8. When protein is done, spread the spinach mixture on top of the protein.
9. Arrange the frozen tater tots on top of spinach mixture in concentric circles. Spray with cooking spray (or brush with vegetable oil) to brown.
10. Bake for 40 minutes, until the tots are crispy.
11. *If no oven-proof skillet is available, saute spinach and transfer mixture to a baking pan.

Garlic-Butter Steak Bites

This quick, simple recipe benefits from a tender cut, such as strip steak (but no one will turn down ribeye or tenderloin). Coated in seasoned garlic butter, this rich appetizer paired with a baguette will have you sliding from the sofa into the faux fur rug next to the fire dreaming about the day’s adventures. Adapted from Food and Wine.

Ingredients
2 lbs strip steak (or other tender cut), cut into 1-inch cubes
Salt & pepper
2 tbsp vegetable oil
5 cloves garlic, chopped fine
⅓ cup white wine (Vermouth or Sherry ok)
4 tbsp butter, unsalted
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Optional: Italian parsley to garnish; sliced baguette to soak up garlic butter

Steps
1. Generously salt and pepper steak in a large bowl.
2. Heat oil in a cast-iron (or other) skillet over medium-high heat.
3. Add steak cubes and brown bottoms until crisp; turn and brown until medium-rare. Transfer steak to plate.
4. Lower heat to medium, add garlic and wine, scraping up any delicious bits, and reduce to approximately 3-4 tbsp.
5. Remove from heat and add butter. When melted, add Worcestershire sauce. Salt and pepper, to taste.
6. Add steak to skillet, and coat with garlic-butter sauce. Serve immediately.

Faux Fondue

Fondue is fabulous. Melted cheese over bread or vegetables, what’s not to love? However, most condos aren’t stocked with a fondue pot that keeps the kirsch-infused emmentaler heated at a consistent low temp tableside. Before you reach for your reservation app, consider that most fondue ingredients are simple and close at hand, and you can create a pretty close imitation that provides the scents and tastes of this alpine mainstay on your Wasatch table.

Ingredients
Do not overthink this! Feel free to substitute.
1 lbs Red and/or white potatoes (small or “new”)
Broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, and/or just about any other winter vegetable will do
Prepackaged “fondue” or “raclette” cheese (available at many stores; Harmons has a Mountain Fondue Blend)
Fresh baguette or country bread, sliced

Steps
1. Boil potatoes until a knife cuts easily.
2. Boil, steam, roast, or use leftover broccoli or whatever other vegetables on hand.
3. Melt cheese as directed on the package (microwave does well).
4. Spoon melted cheese over potatoes, other vegetables and bread.

Après ski is a time to relax and enjoy food, friends and family. The French and other Europeans who popularized it decades ago didn’t fret over fondue pots, fashion or anything else. They grabbed whatever was in their larders…or their neighbors’. Here in Utah, five-star dining is plentiful, but outdoor enthusiasts discovered that the best après ski involves preparing foods simply and efficiently giving them more time to enjoy great sights and magnificent slopes.