So, i know we’ve all been a little tense about Glasto tickets over the last few days, so i think it’s time for my tartiflette recipe, to remind us why we bother and hopefully to soothe the furrowed brows of those of you still unsure as to whether you’re coming or not.
This has been cobbled together from various recipes on the interweb and tested chez carsmile, let me know what you think.
Ingredients
Big old pile of potatoes, sliced about half a centimetre thick (maybe a bit more), doesn’t matter if you peel them or not, I’ve tended to go for not.
An onion, chopped quite finely
A leek, chopped ditto
Clove of garlic
A packet of lardons (tesco do not-bad-at-all ones) or some chopped up bacon
Tub of cr’me fraiche
A round cheese with edible rind, officially it should be reblechon, but I haven’t been able to get hold of it, camembert works fine, something with a bit of taste anyway, and probably not too ripe (you’ll see why in a minute)
A glass of preferably pretty fruity white wine
A buttered oven-proof dish (I’d suggest using your largest one)
Method
Set the oven to 160’C.
Fry off the lardons for a couple of minutes so they start to brown a bit.
Chuck the onion and leek in and fry until they are all soft and starting to brown round the edges.
NB nice brown bits sticking to the bottom of the pan are to be encouraged.
Add the garlic, stir round and take off the heat.
Take the cheese and cut it in half through the middle so you end up with two circles. If it’s solid/thick enough see if you can then cut each of those bits in half again.
Put the first layer of raw potatoes in the bottom of the dish and grate some black pepper on.
Put a bit of the onion, leek and bacon mix on top.
Then potatoes, mixture, potatoes, mixture etc until you’ve almost filled your dish, ending with a layer of potatoes (if you’ve managed to get four circles out of your cheese stick the two from the middle in after the second or third layer).
Once you’ve run out of space/potatoes/bacon/onion put the frying pan back on the heat and pour a dribble of the wine in and scrape all the bits from the pan into the wine, then add the rest of the wine and a big spoonful of cr’me fraiche and stir in ’til it all goes liquidy, add another spoonful and mix again, then carefully pour the mixture over the potatoes.
Put the two bits of cheese on the top, with the rind face up and dot the rest of the visible potatoes with butter.
Shove it in the oven for at least 90 minutes, until you can get a knife easily through the potatoes and the top is golden brown.
Serve with a really meaty sausage or two, but frankly it’s pretty much a meal in itself and is also amazing cold the next morning when all the wine and cream has soaked into the potato, if there’s any left of course’