Tartiflette - a gratin of potatoes, onions, bacon and cheese

I got the idea to make this from a recent visit to Normandy in France. We'd stopped for lunch at a small bistro and I chose the Gratin Maison from the menu. I was well aware of what a gratin was but wasn't sure what the 'maison' bit would entail so was a bit apprehensive, especially as the menu contained some unusual specialties such as 'salade de gesiers' (gizzard salad) which, I'm sure is delicious, but wasn't really something I fancied just at that point!

When my meal arrived I was delighted that it didn't contain anything I didn't recognise and it tasted divine - a deliciously rich, creamy mixture of potatoes, onions, bacon and cheese, which I discovered later is called tartiflette. I think the bistro had added their own local cheese rather than traditional Reblochon, hence the 'maison' bit in the name.

Tartiflette comes from the Alpine region of France where hungry skiers eat it by the bucket load in winter - it's so rich and calorie-laden that I'm sure it's perfect for restoring the energy expended during a hard session on the slopes. It's very much considered a cold-weather food and I agree it isn't something to be eaten on a really hot day but it didn't feel out of place eating it on a mild afternoon in May.

This is a really easy dish to make - it's simply a case of boiling some potatoes, frying an onion with some bacon then layering it with cheese and cream in an oven-proof dish and baking it in the oven for half an hour or so. It's gorgeous served with a simple green salad and/or some French bread to mop up the creamy sauce.

I'd love to hear about other places you've eaten tartiflette so please feel free to share and leave a comment!

Tartiflette Recipe

Notes: The recipe below details how I made my tartiflette but this is very much a dish where you can add as much or as little of anything you like. More cream and cheese will give a softer dish with lots of sauce, use less and the dish will be drier and firmer.

I think the addition of Reblochon cheese gives tartiflette its distinctive French flavour and I was delighted to find it in my local supermarket but, if you'd like to make tartiflette and can't get hold of Reblochon, I'm sure Camembert would work just as well or, at a push, Brie. 

The white wine adds extra flavour but is optional.

Serves 3 as a main course with salad.

Ingredients:
1.5kg potatoes
1tbsp olive oil
1 large onion
180g smoked bacon lardons
50ml white wine (optional)
100ml double cream
200g Reblochon cheese
1 garlic clove
salt and pepper

Method:
1. Peel and slice the potatoes thickly and boil in salted water for 8-10 minutes, until tender but not too soft.

2. Meanwhile, fry the onion in the oil for a few minutes until the onion begins to soften then add the lardons. Fry until the onions are soft and golden and the lardons are cooked but take care not to burn them.

3. Add the white wine to the onions and bacon if using and allow it to sizzle for a minute or two until most of the white wine has evaporated then add the cream and stir together. Add salt and pepper if required.

4. Slice the cheese.

5. Rub the garlic clove around the inside of an oven proof dish for extra flavour then start to layer the tartiflette by placing a layer of potatoes on the bottom of the dish, followed by a layer of the onion, bacon and cream mixture and then half the cheese. Repeat finishing with the final half of the cheese on top of the dish.

6. Place in a preheated oven at 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4 for 20-25 minutes until the top is golden.

Bon Appetit!

Sesame Soba Noodles

My daughter will be going back to Uni at the weekend and won't be home again until the summer. I will miss her but the house will be so much quieter - especially at lunchtimes! 

When I'm busy I'm happy to grab a quick lunch on the hoof but for my daughter, lunch has to be interesting and varied and is something to take a bit of time over. Personally I think she's got too much time on her hands but she maintains that lunch is just as important as any other meal of the day and I have to say that you can't argue with that can you? I do think that we overlook, and, dare I say, skip lunch too often, usually because of the demands of our busy lives. 

A couple of months ago, I posted about lunch for 1 week using flour tortillas but thought I'd post another favourite lunchtime recipe - Sesame Soba Noodles. It's a favourite due to the fact that it's eaten cold so can be prepared the evening before, stored in the fridge in a plastic container overnight and then popped in my bag to be eaten wherever and whenever the next day. If you do this though, don't forget to pack a fork or some chopsticks as well - this is NOT finger food! 

This recipe produces a light meat-free lunch full of Asian flavours but the recipe is really flexible (see notes below). Soba noodles are made using buckwheat flour but the brand I used also contained wheat flour so if you're on a gluten-free diet check the packet first.

Sesame Soba Noodles

Notes: I use soba noodles in this recipe for no other reason than they have a slippery texture that means they don't stick together as much as other noodles if left to chill in the fridge overnight. Other types of noodles would be just as nice but may need a bit more dressing, especially the thicker ones.

The ingredients are variable - I've included the ingredients that I used the day I took the photographs but small sticks of carrot, thinly sliced mange-tout or small sticks of leek are lovely too. For a more substantial lunch, chicken or prawns could be added - just use your imagination.

Serves 2-3 depending upon your appetite

Ingredients:

150g soba noodles

½ red chilli - deseeded

2cm piece of ginger

1tbsp coriander leaves

6 spring onions

1 stick celery

1tbsp sesame oil

1tbsp white rice vinegar

1tbsp soy sauce
1tsp sesame seeds

Method:
1.Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and add the noodles. Cook for 2 minutes (or according to the instructions) then drain and leave to cool.

2. Finely chop the chilli, ginger and coriander leaves, slice the spring onions and cut the celery into matchsticks. Mix into the noodles.

3. Combine the sesame oil, vinegar and soy sauce together and pour over the noodles. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Lunch ideas for 1 week using flour tortillas Day 7: Pronto Pizza

This is the 7th and last day of my mission to make lunch using a flour tortilla each day for a week and so far I have been completely bowled over by all of the delicious and easy recipes I've tried. So, with only one lonely tortilla left from my pack of 8 I had to decide how to give it the same send off as the other 7 and turn it into an appetising lunch.

I have to be honest and say that, when I first came across the idea of a pizza made out of a flour tortilla, I wasn't completely inspired. After all the tasty food I've had this week this one didn't sound too exciting but I thought I'd give it a go anyway - what's the worst that could happen?

First I mixed a quick tomato sauce from:
1tbsp tomato puree
1tbsp water
1/2 clove of garlic, chopped finely
1/4 tsp dried oregano
a little salt and black pepper

I put my tortilla pizza on a wire rack before baking to
make sure the base turned crispy.

I then spread the sauce over one side of the flour tortilla and sprinkled some grated cheese on top of that. I added some other toppings (roasted peppers, artichoke hearts and green olives I had leftover in a jar in the fridge) and cooked it on a wire rack in a preheated oven at 200°C/ 400°F/ Gas Mark 6 for around 6 minutes - I wanted a crispy base and didn't think a baking tray would do the trick. After approx 6 minutes the edges of the tortilla had turned brown and the cheese had melted.

I took it out of the oven and cut myself a slice while it was still piping hot - it looked nice but the proof of the pudding (or pizza in this case) would be in the eating. Wow!!! This humble tortilla had been totally transformed into something else that tasted so...so Italian! The tortilla base had turned really crisp and the toppings tasted genuinely like pizza - who would have thought it? This had turned out to be one of the best recipe ideas of the week.

I've also got a feeling that it would work just as well with almost any topping and I'm already thinking of making it again but can't decide whether I should add pesto or pepperoni next time! It would also be a great way of getting kids involved in the kitchen - let them build their own pronto pizza. 

So, had I inadvertently saved the best till last? Thinking back over the past 7 days it's difficult to say as I've had so many brilliant lunches that have exceeded my expectations ten-fold. I will certainly never look at a pack of flour tortillas in the same way ever again.

Wonder what I'll have for lunch tomorrow!

Below are links to all of the other recipe ideas I've tried this week:

Taco salad with lime and coriander vinaigrette

Felafel and hummus wrap

Tortilla Chips with home made guacamole and hummus

Huevos Rancheros

Quesadillas

BLT Wrap

Lunch ideas for 1 week using flour tortillas Day 6: BLT wrap

It's now onto Day 6 of my quest to make a lunch using a flour tortilla and I plumped for a BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato) wrap. What could be simpler? But just because it's simple doesn't mean it isn't totally delicious. 

I've bought many a ready-made BLT sandwich that just hasn't hit the spot - I don't think refrigeration does them any good - but freshly made they are fantastic.

Spread a flour tortilla generously with mayonnaise and top with chopped lettuce, sliced tomatoes and crisp bacon then wrap and eat. That's all there is to making a quick, delicious lunch. As you can see from the pictures I was a bit over enthusiastic with mine and filled it so full that I could hardly keep the wrap closed! With a bit less filling it could be wrapped in cling film and taken anywhere as a packed lunch. Please note though that if you plan to do this, it's wise to remove the seeds from the tomatoes first as these can make the wrap soggy and soggy wraps aren't nice!

Lunch ideas for 1 week using flour tortillas Day 5: Quesadillas

After posting about Huevos Rancheros yesterday and Quesadillas today you could be forgiven for thinking that this is a blog about Mexican food. It isn't. But in my quest to have a flour tortilla lunch every day this week, the temptation to try out Mexican-style recipes is too great to resist. In the UK we have only fairly recently discovered how versatile flour tortillas are but in South America they eaten them for centuries, if not thousands of years, so it's no wonder that they go so well with flavours from that part of the world.

My lunch idea for day 5 is therefore a quesadilla and my version is inspired by Mexico but I couldn't honestly say is authentically Mexican. A quesadilla is a flour tortilla that has been folded in half and filled with some savoury ingredients including cheese to make a kind of toasted sandwich. Apparently  the quesadilla gets its name from from the Spanish word for cheese 'queso' so I guess it goes without saying that cheese is not optional! Mine was filled with cheddar cheese and smoked bacon which happens to be one of my most favourite combinations but, in honour of Mexico I also added a bit of chopped green chilli. 

I haven't provided a recipe for quesadillas because it's the sort of thing that can be completely adapted to what you fancy, or what you happen to have in at the time, but I have outlined the method below.

Quesadillas

1. Place a flour tortilla on your board and put the filling ingredients onto one half of it. 

2. Fold the other half across the filling. Press it down so it's quite flat and brush both sides with oil.

3. Heat a griddle or frying pan and cook the tortilla on both sides for about 1 minute each side.

4. Remove from the pan, cut in half and serve.

Lunch ideas for 1 week using flour tortillas Day 4: Huevos Rancheros

I'm onto Day 4 of my challenge to come up with a yummy lunch every day this week using flour tortillas and today I tried the exotic-sounding Huevos Rancheros, which translates to the not so exotic sounding Ranch Eggs in English. 

This recipe has its roots in Mexico where they eat it (or certainly a version of it) for breakfast. It consists of tomatoes, onion and a bit of chilli piled onto a flour tortilla which is then topped off with a fried egg. Eating chilli for breakfast isn't really my thing but if you think it might be yours then Huevos Rancheros would make a great spicy alternative to a full English once in a while. 

Huevos Rancheros (Ranch Eggs)

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 green chilli, finely chopped

chilli power / chilli sauce to taste

2 eggs

2 flour tortillas

Oil for brushing and frying

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion for approximately 5 minutes until it is soft, don't allow it to burn.

2. Add the tomatoes and the chilli (plus some chilli powder or chilli sauce for extra heat) and simmer for approximately 10 minutes until the liquid has mostly absorbed and the sauce is fairly thick.

3. Heat a frying pan and brush the tortillas lightly with oil and warm the tortillas gently until they are warmed through (approx 1 minute). They should still be fairly soft. Remove and put aside.

4. In the same pan as the tortillas, heat some oil and fry the eggs.

5. To serve, place the tortillas on plates, top with the tomato sauce and place the fried eggs on top.