Tartiflette Savoyarde With Wholesome Ireland

If you follow my friend Caitriona Redmond, you will know that she rears her own pigs has recently sent to the slaughterhouse.  This means her freezer is packed full of forgeous free range fresh meat and gorgeous bacon.  So when she invited me to visit so we could cook together and catch up, I jumped on the occasion.  We settled on making a tartiflette as it brings the best of our two countries together: home reared irish bacon and wonderful raw milk french cheese.  It’s a marriage made in heaven and just like my endless chats with Caitriona, tartiflette is simply good for the soul. 

Tartiflette is not an average dish.  It comes for a mountainous region called Savoy, located in the french Alps.  It is best eaten on the coldest winter’s day, after a few hours skiing.  Between the cheese, bacon and the heavy cream, it should absolutely be eaten in moderation.  Catriona thinks that this fondue type dish would be good served with minted peas with a mustard vinaigrette but for me, I’d be more likely to serve it with some cornichons (french pickles) and lots of cured meats, a bit like an over the top raclette.  If I wanted to be a tad kinder to my belly, I’d serve ti with a green salad with a sharp vinaigrette.  Melted cheese and seasoned lettuce go together like Al and Peggy Bundy. 

Full disclosure: the photo of the finished product was taken by Caitriona. I can only dream of taking such good shots. 

Some things worth noting:

• This dish is as good as the ingredients you use. So go for the raw milk reblochon if you can find it and use proper cream bacon.  Admittedly, Caitriona’s bacon was by very far the best I’ve ever eaten, but you can buy decent meat in most butchers. 
• The creme fraiche can split in the oven but don’t worry it tastes delicious regardless. I think double cream might be less likely to split.
• Use a French Chardonnay. Do it.

Ingredients

• 500 g of baby spuds
• 1 small wheel of reblochon cheese
• 1 tub of creme fraiche or a pot of double creme
• half a glass of French chardonnay
• 1 large white or yellow onion
• 6 rashers
• 3 cloves of garlic

Method

• Slice your potatoes thinly
• Cut your bacon in bite size pieces and fry it a bit to render the fat.
• Fry your shaved onion in the bacon fat until it’s transparent but not brown.
• In a bowl, mix your cream, wine and garlic until you have a thick liquid.
• In your oven dish, place the onion and the bacon and layer your potato slices on top. 
• Cover with the cream.
• Slice the cheese and place it on top as pictured below. 
• Place the dish in a preheated oven. Depending on how deep your dish is, it might take between 40 and 60 min to cook. Do the knife test to make sure your spuds are cooked through. 
• Serve with a glass of the cold French chardonnay.