Tartiflette au Reblochon Recipe
Tartiflette au Reblochon is also known as Potato and Reblochon cheese gratin. It's a creamy potato gratin (baked dish) with melted Reblochon cheese on top and a perfect winter comfort food.
As the temperature keeps dropping in France and winter is just around the corner, baking this dish is a good idea for lots of reasons. The kitchen gets toasty warm with the stove top and oven going, it's an easy dish to enjoy sitting beside the fireplace on a cold night and most important for me, it's easy and very tasty. A nice dish to share among friends!
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The most important ingredient in a Tartiflette is Reblochon. It's a soft washed-rind and smear-ripened French cheese made in the Alpine region of Haute-Savoie from raw cow's milk.
I first baked a Tartiflette au Reblochon just the other month when I was visiting friends for lunch. We were getting together for a communal lunch and each bringing something different to share. I was on fresh baguette duty, as I usually am, because I drive past the boulangerie in Corlay on my way to my friends's house. However, I was a bit stuck on what to bring by way of a hot dish.
My girlfriend Chris suggested I bake a Tartiflette au reblochon and I had to admit to her that I didn't know what it was. Chris explained what the dish was and how to cook it and so I agreed that I'd love to bake it and bring to share for our Sunday lunch. The strong creamy flavour of the cheese makes this gratin the tastiest I've baked and it was loved so much by everyone, that I thought you might like it also.
Here's the recipe Chris shared with me, but tweaked a little, together with the ingredients I used. I tweaked her recipe by using bacon lardons instead of ham and I cut my potatoes into slices rather than leave them whole so that they cook quicker. Either options will work fine though.
In case you are not sure what lardons are, they are a French type of bacon that's cured and cut into cubes.
Ingredients
- Potatoes (pomme de terre) - 5 large
- Onions (I buy onions locally grown in Roscoff) (oignons) - 3 large
- Smoked bacon cubed (lardons fumés) - 200 g
- Crème Fraîche - 250 ml
- Reblochon cheese wheel (meule de reblochon) - 1 wheel
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 180° C.
- Peel and wash the potatoes. Cut potatoes into slices, place in a pot and cover with water. Add a pinch of salt and bring to the boil.
- Peel and chop the onions.
- Sauté the onions and lardons in a pan.
- When the potatoes are cooked, drain and add a layer of sliced potato to the bottom of a gratin dish. Continue layering the sliced potato until all slices are used. Season with salt and pepper.
- Place the onions and lardons in a layer on top of the potato.
- Add the crème fraîche and mix the crème gently through the layers.
- Cut the Reblochon cheese wheel across the top, then in half again along the side. You will now have four round slices of cheese. Place the slices on top of the lardons.
- Bake for 20 minutes, or until the mixture has melded and the cheese has browned.
- Serve with a fresh salad and crusty baguette.