Following our skiing trip to Meribel this January, I was inspired to make a regional dish of the Savoie that we enjoyed - Tartiflette.
Take a load of potatoes (I used a 2KG bag I think) and boiled in their skins until just tender. Drain and allow to cool until you can handle them, then squeeze the skins off with your fingers (this is a very messy way of peeling potatoes but you do get a lovely round smooth surface to them, and it was quite fun). Then chop into slices - how thick is up to you, I went for quite thick slices of about 1cm.
Finely chop a large onion and fry in some butter until soft. Add a large handful of lardons (good quality bacon will suffice, cut into lumps) and cook some more. I also added garlic, fresh thyme, salt and pepper.
I used my large terracotta dish for this - whatever dish you use, it has to be round! Pile half the potatoes in a nice even layer on the bottom of the dish, then spread the bacon and onion mixture over this, then layer the rest of the potatoes over the top. I then poured over half pint of double cream mixed with half a pint of milk - that is what I had - a pint if single cream would be fine too I reckon, but a pint of double might be too rich.
Then the most important bit - the cheese!
I bought a whole Reblochon from a rather expensive cheese shop - it was £11.50 which is a lot, but this dish did serve about 12 people. I cut the bottom off the cheese and placed it on top of the potatoes, and that went in the oven for probably 45 minutes to an hour (wasn’t counting) - until the cheese has melted and you are left with a crispy bit of cheese skin on the top.
Absolutely delicious - simple, luxurious, filling, a real crowd pleasure.
In France this is served by itself, with a simple green salad. It is so filling you don’t need any meat with it, andyou certainly won’t need to eat for a while after. I served it at a family party at our house with racks of lamb, home made beef kebabs, salad and lots of bread (and lots of champagne!).