A traditional Savoyard dish… or not?

Tartiflette… a traditional Savoyard dish… or not? We first tasted this  hearty, warming and tasty dish not in Haute-Savoie in France where it originates, but in Weston-super-Mare at a food fair.  We’d never heard of it before but discovered it was easy to make from everyday ingredients – although for true authenticity Reblochon cheese should be used.

However it seems that maybe it is not a traditional dish, after all! maybe it was an invention in the 1080’s to promote Reblochon cheese which had fallen out of fashion. However, as with many recipes, I’m sure in many home kitchens, people had been putting these ingredients together to make a dish just right for a winter’s day – and if not exactly the same, pretty similar!

Here is the recipe we use:

Tartiflette

• 2 lbs potatoes, peeled, boiled and sliced
• 8 oz diced bacon and 1 finely sliced onion fried together
• 1 Reblochon cheese, cut in half across the side so you have two circles of cheese
• 3 tablespoons crème fraiche or cream
• 1 glass white wine

1. layer the fried bacon and onions with the potatoes in a buttered dish
2. pour over the cream or dollop on the crème fraiche
3. add the wine
4. lay the halves of Reblochon face down (skin side up) on the potatoes
5. cook in a hot oven 220°C 425°F gas mark 8
6. when the top is all crispy all the cheese will have melted down into the potatoes and it is ready to eat!
7. nice with crusty bread!!