Raclette in a pan / Raclette à la poêle

Tags

Cheese, fondue, potatoes, raclette, saucisse de morteau, sausage, winter foods

Raclette is essentially melted cheese, served over boiled potatoes with lots of ground black pepper, accompanied by small pickled onions and gherkins. The name comes from the French verb “racler”, to scrape, because of the way the melted cheese is scraped off the block.

A modern way of serving raclette involves an electric table-top grill with small pans, known as coupelles, in which to melt slices of raclette cheese. Generally the grill is surmounted by a hot plate or griddle. The cheese is brought to the table sliced, accompanied by platters of boiled or steamed potatoes, other vegetables and charcuterie. These are then mixed with potatoes and topped with cheese in the small, wedge-shaped coupelles that are placed under the grill to melt and brown the cheese. Alternatively, slices of cheese may be melted and simply poured over food on the plate. The emphasis in raclette dining is on relaxed and sociable eating and drinking, the meal often running to several hours.

However if you do not own such a grill, and I do not, there is still a way to enjoy this amazing dish. Simply use a sauté pan and voila – dinner is served, in all its all gooey and melting deliciousness.

Serves 3

Ingredients:

1 precooked smoked sausage (I used a saucisse de Morteau)
800 g / 1.7 lbs potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
1 small onion, diced
1 clove of garlic
8 slices raclette cheese
5 g / 1 teaspoon butter
Large pinch of Herbs de Provence
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:

Cut the sausage into bite sized pieces
Melt the butter in a sauté pan
Add the onion, garlic and the sausage and lightly brown
Boil the potatoes until almost cooked
Drain and cut into cubes
Add the potatoes to the pan
Add the herbs de Provence and cook all for about 5 minutes
Remove from the heat
Add salt and pepper
Add the cheese and cover with a lid to allow the cheese to melt
Serve with a green salad
Enjoy!

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Baked Vacherin Mont d’Or

Tags

Cheese, fromagerie d'Audrix, julian de savignac, jura, melted cheese, mont d'or, savagnin, trousseau, vacherin

For a simple yet stunning dinner or starter, I suggest a glorious melting moment with this oven baked oooey-gooey Vacherin Mont d’Or.

Called “the holy grail of raw milk cheeses”, Vacherin Mont d’Or,  is truly a spectacular cheese. They are only available from October to March and I have been waiting 9 months now to try this. You could not have imagined my excitedness on seeing one at my local local cheese monger, La Fromagerie D’Audrix, last Tuesday.

The origin of this cheese was a point of contention between the Swiss and the French for centuries. The Swiss versions are made from pasteurized milk. In France, you can get both versions; those made with lait cru (raw milk) and the pasteurized ones. (Tip: Go for the lait cru.)

after heating

after heating

Serve with good bread, some new potatoes, cornichons and to make a full meal out of it,  slices of ham or smoked sausage. Pair it with a a good, flavorful white wine (such as Arbois, Chasselas, Sancerre, Chardonnay, or Gewürztraminer). Better yet, try a wine from the Jura, the region the cheese comes from.

I went to my local wine store, Julian de Savignac, and they suggested a white Savagnin, a little known grape varietal, grown almost exclusively in the Jura, for something typical and unique or a chardonnay from Jura if I wanted to play it safe. I went for the Savagnin. What an interesting wine! It tasted almost like a very dry and fine sherry and that is no surprise as the wine spends almost 4 years in oak barrels, “sous voile”. Sous-voile (“with veil”, referring to the “veil” of yeasts that float on the developing wine, analogous to the “flor” of sherry) is wine made in the special Jura manner whereby winemakers allow controlled amounts of oxidation to produce a wanted specific result. The result is a very nutty, dry, yellow wine with tangy flavours. A perfect match. (The Trousseau, by the way, is a light red from Jura)

If you cannot find this glorious cheese, then you could substitute another washed rind cheese in a box, such as Camembert but it really will not be the same.

Serves 4 (as a starter) or 2 (as a dinner)

Ingredients:

1 ripe Vacherin in its wooden box, room temperature
2 teaspoons dry white wine
To serve:
450 g /  1 lb small potatoes, cooked whole
125 g / 4 oz cornichons
crusty french bread, preferably a walnut bread
1 or 2 smoked sausages (I used saucisse de morteau)

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 375ºF /190ºC
Pierce eight-to-ten slits in the top of the cheese with a paring knife
Drizzle the wine over the top
Replace the lid and bake for about 20 minutes (until the cheese is hot and soft all the way through)
Put the cheese, in its box, on a large serving platter, uncover and pull back the top layer
Serve with the new potatoes, cornichons, sausage or ham and a delicious nut bread
Bon Appétit!

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Tartiflette – potatoes, bacon and Reblochon

Tags

apremont, bacon, Cheese, onions, potatoes, reblochon, savoie, tartiflette

Who would believe that the Tartiflette, a dish well anchored in french gastronomy, only appeared in 1980’s?  This recipe, originating in Savoie, in the Alps, was in its origin a peasant dish, a variation of a traditional recipe called “Pela de Aravis”.  The potatoes are not boiled first in the traditional recipe but are cut into cubes and fried with butter and bacon in a pan with a long wooden handle in a wood fire.  Obviously Reblochon was always the star ingredient.  Reblochon is a rich and creamy cheese with a fruity, nutty yet mild flavor. The aroma is earthy. To learn more about this amazing cheese, see below.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1kg / 2lb 4oz Charlotte potatoes, peeled
250g / 8oz bacon lardons
1 onion, thinly sliced
80ml / 1/3 cup white wine
125ml / 1/2 cup heavy cream
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 whole Reblochon cheese, rind grated and sliced (450g / 1lb)

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 220 C / 440 F
Cook the potatoes in a pan of boiling water until tender, about 20 minutes
Drain and cool slightly
Sauté the lardons with the onions over medium heat until the onions are soft and  translucent
Add the white wine and continue to cook until the liquid has evaporated
Slice the potatoes and layer half in an oven proof dish
Add the onion and bacon mixture
Add the remaining potatoes
Season with salt and pepper
Pour over the heavy cream
Lay the slices of Reblochon on top
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the cheese is golden and bubbling
Serve immediately with a small green salad and a glass of white wine
Enjoy and Bon Appétit!

Wine pairing: A glass of Apremont, a light, dry, white wine from Savoie with floral and mineral characteristics

Rebochon facts:

Reblochon AOC is a semi-soft, washed-rind and smear-ripened mountain cheese that originated at the heart of the massif des Aravis, in the Thônes region of Haute-Savoie in France. The cheese was decreed as an A.O.C. cheese in 1958 and therefore is subject follow to strict rules and regulations. It is a lightly pressed, uncooked cheese, made from full-cream unpasteurised milk. Thirteenth century fables tell of Savoie herdsmen who carried out an incomplete milking of the cows in order to reduce their ‘taxable’ production of milk. After the rent was paid to the landowners, they went back to ‘remilk’ (reblocher) the cows. The second milking of cows yielded a milk rich in fat and was used to make Reblochon. Reblochon features a fine velvety rind, varying from yellow to orange in colour. The close textured pate is very smooth, supple and ivory in colour. Farmhouse cheese discs are matured for at least two weeks, during which the cheese develops an edible light beige crust and buttery dough. Reblochon has a slight scent of the cellar and a mild fruity taste with an intense nutty aftertaste. Its delicate and subtle flavours go well with a glass of Savoie wine. The cheese is excellent on the cheeseboard or can be melted on baked potatoes. Reblochon also features as a classic ingredient in one of the Alps’ best-loved dishes, the Tartiflette.

 

 

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