Alpine Tartiflette #FoodieReads

 

At the beginning of each month, I get to pick a book through the Amazon First Reads program. They have different genres available and I usually lean towards the historical fiction. But this month, I picked The Hike by Susi Holliday, a thriller set in the Swiss Alps. The premise sounded intriguing: Four friends go for a hike and only two return. What happened?!

from amazon.com

Let me preface this post by saying that the book was awful. Sorry to say that, but it was. None of the characters were likeable much less believable. And the ending was truly laughable. The only redeeming quality was it was a mercifully quick read.

Also there wasn't a lot of food mentioned, but one mere mention of a dish sent me running to the kitchen.  I'll get to that in a second. A couple of other food passages...

"Ginny had done all the shopping, except she’d ordered a load of ridiculous ingredients – truffle butter, some exotic vegetables that no one knew how to cook. And far too much booze. They’d all been starving and blind drunk and it was a wonder none of them had ended up drowning." I considered some exotic vegetables with truffle butter. 

Halfway through their hike, they find a restaurant on the mountain. "'There’s a steak sandwich with fries – when it says sandwich, it’ll be a chunk of baguette of course. Um, a local sausage with fries . . . and some sort of fish stew. Plus chef’s salad, which I think usually has cubes of cheese and ham in it. That’s the most summery thing on the menu, I think'." And the fish stew almost made an appearance on my table.

But, as I mentioned earlier, one dish inspired me into the kitchen: tartiflette. "'What’s tartiflette?' Ginny asked. 'Is it a quiche? Says it comes with salade verte – which even I can work out is green salad . . .' 'It’s a sort of creamy potato dish, with bacon and cheese. You’ll like it, Gins. Bit warm for summer, but perfect to replenish us. I think I might have that'."

Tartiflette is a traditional dish from the Savoy area of the Alps; it's made from potatoes, reblochon cheese, lardons, and onions. The dish's name derives from the Savoyard word for potatoes, tartifles.

When I couldn't get my hands on any reblochon, I decided to use up some leftover cheeses and turn 

them into a Fromage Fort. 

Fromage fort means 'strong cheese' in French and it's the ultimate way of repurposing leftover cheese. I love revamping leftovers into something completely different. We had several orphaned bits of cheese from recent parties, including a French double crème cow's milk cheese; Humboldt Fog, a goat's milk cheese with a ribbon of edible vegetable ash; an Italian taleggio; and Herve Mons' St. Nuage Triple Crème. To that I added some bleu cheese and feta crumbles and a dollop of mascarpone. Can you tell I'm a caseophile? We have a lot of cheese in the fridge!

Ingredients

Fromage Fort

• 1/2 lb cheese remnants
• 2 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
• pat of butter
• 1/4 cup dry white wine (I used a Sauvignon Blanc)

Tartiflette 

• 2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed and dried
• 2 Tablespoons butter, divided + more for buttering the baking dish
• 2 yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1/4 pound salt pork, cut into slices
• Freshly ground salt, as needed
• Freshly ground pepper, as needed
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• Fromage Fort, as needed

Procedure

Fromage Fort

Put your cheese pieces in the bowl of a food processor or blender. In a small skillet, saute the shallots in a pat of butter until softened and translucent. Add the shallots to the cheese. 

Add 1/8 cup wine to the cheese-shallot mixture and pulse to process. Slowly add the remaining liquid to the cheese. Blend, again, until it becomes creamy, but not too soft. Spoon the cheese into small jars until read to use.

Tartiflette 
Cook the salt pork pieces until the fat is rendered and the pieces crisped. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter a baking dish.

Slice the potatoes into thin, even slices. I use a mandolin slicer. In a skillet with 1 Tablespoon butter, cook the onions until they soften, approximately 10 minutes. Set aside.

This part is all about making even and appealing layers to the gratin. I did one-third of the potatoes, one-half of the onions; one-third of the potatoes; a layer of Fromage Fort; one-half of the onions; one-third of the potatoes with the crisped salt pork on the top...and more Fromage Fort. Season lightly with salt and pepper at each potato layer.

Gently press down on the layers to create an even top. Pour the cream over the potatoes. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until the top layer of potatoes is tender and beginning to brown.

Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes before slicing. Serve hot.

This is a perfect dish for Fall and Winter. Even if I didn't enjoy the book that inspired this, I loved the tartiflette.

I am adding this to the September #FoodieReads link-up.