In a previous post I wrote about the history of Ovomaltine and its significance in Switzerland. While Ovomaltine is great as a drink with milk, it’s also delicious eaten straight out of the tin or spinkled on a buttered slice of bread – which is one of the most popular breakfast options in our house. I’ve always tried to find recipes that use Ovomaltine as an ingredient but could never find much more than the odd Ovomaltine cake or cookies. This changed last year when Marina Kienast Gobet published her Ovomaltine cookbook called Ovo Book.
Marina Kienast was born in Sao Paulo (Brazil) to a Hungarian mother and a Swiss father and learned about the passion for food (and Ovomaltine) early on. After a career in modeling, Marina moved to Paris to follow cooking classes in two prestigious institutions of the capital; Le Cordon Bleu and the École Lenôtre. After the birth of her daughter she moved to Switzerland and started working on her cookbook Ovo Book which was first published in 2016.
The book contains 30 inventive, easy to follow recipes, all accompanied by beautiful photos. Some are Ovomaltine turned chocolate classics such as Ovomaltine brownies or Ovomaltine chocolate truffles, others are a little more unusual recipes such as Ovomaltine espuma or brigadeiro in a glass. The probably most exotic recipe in the book is the Foie Gras snack; Foie Gras on a slice of brioche, covered in a sauce containing honey, balsamic vinegar, Ovomaltine and more.
I enjoyed the book, reading all the Ovomaltine inspired recipes and looking at the beautiful photos. So far we tried the Hungarian cookies and and the Chocovo cake which were both delicious. If there’s one downside to the book then for me personally it’s that the various recipes call not just for the classic Ovomaltine powder but for all kinds of Ovomaltine products from Ovomaltine chocolate, the Ovo Choco powder, Ovomaltine bread spread, Ovomaltine muesli flakes and so on. We don’t eat many of those products and hence don’t have them at home nor would I want to have a big packet of them at home after baking, so several of the recipes are out of my range sadly. Having said that, I always thought there should be an Ovomaltine cookbook and I was very happy to find out about it!
Ovo Book by Marina Kienast Gobet
Published by Heletiq
Available in French and German
Photos sources: Claudia Link/Marina Kienast Gobet/Little Zurich Kitchen