Close your eyes and imagine taking a bite of cooked potatoes topped with melted cheese. Add to that lardons, white wine and cream and you have the best version of Tartiflette. A meal all in itself, or a great side dish to serve with a hearty red wine such as Nebbiolo.
Head straight on to the Recipe For ♥ Tartiflette ♥
Tartiflette
We had one of the coldest July’s I can remember. And one of the wettest! And even though tartiflette is traditionally an après-ski dish, it was the perfect meal on a cold winter’s night. The recipe calls for potatoes, reblochon cheese, onions and lardons, and comes from the Savoy region of the French Alps. Potatoes were introduced to this area when they were part of the Holy Roman Empire, and feature in many traditional dishes. A recipe for tartiflette appears in Le Cuisinier Royal et Bourgeois in 1705. And makes it onto the menus in ski resorts in the 1980s. The dish became popular as Le Syndicat Interprofessionnel du Reblochon wanted to boost sales of reblochon cheese.
Let’s talk about the cheese
Reblochon is traditionally made from raw cow’s milk, and the best breeds for this AOC designated cheese are Abondance, Tarentaise and Montbéliarde. Because it is unpasteurised, the cheese is not available in the United States. This smear-ripened cheese has a lingering nutty taste and a soft centre. The soft-washed rind should be covered with fine white mould which indicates it has been properly aged for six to eight weeks. Each block of reblochon should weigh 450 grams and should be 14 cm round, and 4 cm high. I can drive into Cape Town and buy this cheese, but as it is imported I looked for something similar. I found fontina at a local cheesery which seemed to be ideal. It is also a semi-soft Alpine cheese with a nutty flavour. This one was locally made, and perfect for melting.
Take a look at this inspiring recipe for ♥ Tartiflette ♥ from Lavender and Lime #LavenderAndLime Share on X
Click on the links for conversions and notes.
Tartiflette
Ingredients
- 475 g potatoes
- 115 g bacon pieces
- 5 mls olive oil
- 1 shallot, peeled, cut in half and thinly sliced
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
- 45 mls white wine
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to season
- 90 mls cream
- 200 g fontina, sliced
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200° Celsius
- Place the potatoes into a bain-marie and steam until soft, then set aside to cool slightly
- Place the bacon pieces into a cold, non-stick frying pan and render the fat on a medium to high temperature
- Add the oil and when heated, turn down the temperature slightly and add the shallots
- Sauté until soft then add the garlic and cook until fragrant
- Turn the temperature up, add the wine to deglaze the pan, and cook until most of the wine has evaporated
- Remove from the heat and set aside
- Thinly slice your potatoes then place one layer into an ovenproof dish
- Season generously, then layer with some of the bacon
- Continue to layer and season until all the potatoes and bacon has been used
- Pour the cream over the final layer then place the cheese slices on top
- Place into the oven and bake for 13 minutes
- Remove from the oven and serve
See the links below for blog posts I published on September 24:
- 2023: Killing Moon
- 2021: Goats Milk Ricotta
- 2018: Fattoush
- 2017: Two Nights
- 2015: Sponge Fingers
- 2014: Wine Making At Waterkloof Wines
- 2013: Sourdough Health Bread
- 2011: Almonds For The Something Sweet Challenge
- 2010: Eating In Marina de Grosseto
This sounds really good
It really is!
potatoes bacon garlic cheese? Oh my word – sounds delightfully delicious.
Hope you try this!
One of my favourite way to cook potatoes…It looks delicious 🙂
Thank you Carol 🙂
Very popular in my part of the world
I am sure it is 🙂
I first had Tartiflette in Annecy, France. Wow. I’ll never forget it. It’s such a great combination of ingredients. I can get Reblochon, by the way. I get all my good cheeses (unpasteurized) from Fromages.com. I’m pretty sure they ship every where!
Ah, that is good to know that you can get those cheeses in the US!
We are not potato fans…but lardon and cheese..they are amazing together. Wish I could find unpasteurised dairy products over here..
I cannot think of a good substitute for potatoes for this dish sadly.
Every Christmas, it’s a tradition in our family to make a potato bake for the Christmas lunch. I might have to upgrade our recipe to this French version with the wine. It looks delicious. The cheeses you describe sound mouthwatering.
This will be wonderful on your Christmas table 🙂
This recipe would be love at first bite for me.
It was for me!
Tartiflette… I’ve heard the name, but I never had this dish. It looks and sounds terrific and so delicious. I mean, potatoes, cheese, and bacon – my kind of comfort dish!
Hope you try and make this 🙂
Wow what a rich delicious looking dish! I’ve never heard of it before potatoes with melted cheese sounds heavenly. Our weather is starting to turn cooler and wetter too.
I am sure you can use a good vegan cheese for this 🙂