A Tartiflette-Centered Dinner

When I was in France with my grandchildren last June, one of the dishes we discovered and enjoyed was tartiflette - a delicious mixture of cheese, bacon, onions, and potatoes. (My grandaughter did have one version which she did not like because it was watery). I decided to try making it for a family dinner last night. My wife and I were joined by our son and his family, including the grandchildren with whom I had gone to Paris, and by our daughter. Our grandchildren joined me in preparing the dinner. It was very easy to prepare and we were happy with the results.


The menu was:
- salad
- tartiflette
- baguettes from Ooh La La French Bakery
- apple pie (tarte aux pommes) from the same bakery.


The salad was a lettuce salad with cucumber slices, orange slices, strawberries, and double gloucester cheese chunks. The grandchildren decided on the ingredients.


Tartiflette (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartiflette) is a dish from the Haut Savoie area of France.

I found a number of tartiflette recipes on the Internet, including youTube videos demonstrating how to prepare it. The recipe I chose was from allrecipes.com - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/french-tartiflette/detail.aspx. It had been submitted by an American woman living in Paris and it had a number of favorable reviews.


One problem in preparing the recipe in the U.S. is that reblochon cheese (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reblochon), the cheese normally used for this dish, is unavailable in the U.S. I asked a cheese expert at Morton's, a local gourmet supermarket, if he could suggest a close alternative. He first suggested Prefere de Nos Montagnes. However, he did not have as much as I needed. As a second choice, he suggested Fromager d'Affinois - a very soft ewe's milk cheese. It worked very well. It had a bit of a strong smell prior to cooking, but blended nicely with the other ingredients once it was cooked.


I doubled the following recipe. The web site recalculates the amount of ingredients depending on the number of servings you choose. Below is the original recipe for 4 servings.


Ingredients

• 3 large potatoes, peeled and sliced (I used medium-sized Yukon gold potatoes)
• 7 slices bacon, chopped
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 2 tablespoons creme fraiche (creme fraiche can be purchased at the supermarket or can be made easily)
• 1 (8 ounce) round Reblochon cheese
• salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the potatoes, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and allow to steam dry for a minute or two.
2. Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Grease an 8-inch square baking dish.
3. Stir-fry bacon in a skillet over medium high heat for about 5 minutes. Remove bacon; pour off bacon fat. In the same skillet, melt the butter, add onions, and cook and stir until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Return the bacon to the pan, add the wine, and simmer until most of the wine has evaporated. Remove from heat.
4. Place 1/2 of the potatoes into the prepared dish; then spread 1/2 of the bacon mixture over the potatoes. Layer in the remaining potatoes, then spread the creme fraiche over them. Add the remaining half of the bacon mixture. Cut the rind from the Reblochon, cut it into thin slices, and layer the slices evenly over the top of the casserole.
5. Bake in the preheated oven until cheese is melted and a bit brown, about 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve hot.

As usual, everything from Ooh La La Bakery was great. I ordered the tarte 2 days earlier. It was available in several sizes.


Although tartiflette is normally served with white wine, we all prefer red, so I served two reds, both of which I enjoy and both of which cost about $10-$11 per bottle:
- Bouchard Aine & Fils 2009 Pinot Noir from Morton's
- Cantina Lanzavecchia 2010 Cren della Lepre Barbera Piemonte from Total Wine