Photo credit: myparisiankitchen.com
I wanted to share my tartiflette recipe with you since cooking is part of my heart language. This dish is typically made for every winter camp because it is a regional mountain dish. After a long day outside in the cold, it's satisfying to have something hardy to replenish that deep hunger! An “après-ski” drink is nice… but a dish like this will help you refuel all those calories (and more!) that you burned on the slopes.
Ingredient list for one casserole dish:
- 3-4 large Yukon Gold potatoes
-bacon or Lardons (½ lb or to your taste)
-dry white wine (1-2 cups)
-reblochon cheese (1 wheel, approximately 500g)
-garlic (2-3 cloves)
-1/2 teaspoon thyme (not traditional, but tasty)
-1 large onion (yellow or white)
-fresh ground pepper
A few notes about the ingredients, as guidelines.
-be careful that the bacon you use has more neutral flavors. If you use too much smoked or flavored bacon, it could overwhelm the flavor of the whole dish.
-Use an inexpensive dry white wine, as your just cooking with it. If your looking to pair a good wine, have you tried a Gamay? It’s a popular (and not expensive here) grape variety, that I feel needs more attention! Check it out at your wine store.
-Reblochon is a PDO (protected designation of origin) for cheese, so it may be more expensive. Ask at the cheese counter if there are any cheaper substitutes if you find the price is prohibitive. Often you can find something similar in the same “style".
Method that I use: (of course, there are many variations)
-chop bacon into chunks and then cook till browned. Don’t worry about draining off the grease unless it’s excessive. Set aside.
-wash potatoes and cut into small cubes. Pan fry them (in that bacon grease) until edible, they don’t need to be super soft, as they will go in the oven. This isn’t suppose to be healthy… so add butter if needed!
-dice up the onion and a few garlic cloves, sauté until slightly caramelized. At this point if you have only dirtied 1 pan, extra point for you :)
-mix the onions, bacon and potatoes in your casserole dish.
-cut the Reblochon wheel in half, like you would slice a bagel. Cube up the bottom half and reserve the top half for later.
-heat up 1 cup of wine in a small small pot and add the thyme to enhance the flavor. Once lightly boiling add the cheese cubes (which is half of the reblochon wheel) and stir. This should come together as a cheesy sauce. Don’t let it burn! Crack in some fresh pepper. Depending on the size of your casserole dish, you may need to add a bit of cream to increase the amount of sauce. If the sauce is too thick, thin it out with some more wine.
Mix this into your potatoes, bacon and onions. Take your reserved half of the reblochon and place on top. If round isn’t looking great for your type of casserole dish, cut into 4 wedges and strategically place them to look more delicious. Face them rind up, so the crust/rind will get a little color.
-Pop into the oven for about 20-25 min at 375F. When you take it out, let it cool a few minutes to set.
Make a BIG green salad with a simple vinaigrette. Eat them at the same time so the salad cancels out ALL of the calories of the tartiflette. Et Voilà! That’s it.
Are you more of a visual learner? Here are some youtube video’s to help spur your creativity.
Philippe Etchebest (in French, but it’s fun) ← go to 8:33 to hear a French french chef give you his “oh la la” about this dish.
America’s Test kitchen version (english)
French cooking academy (in English) ← Stephan makes some great content