INGREDIENTS:
6 large potatoes (peeled)
1 large onion (halved and sliced)
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 clove of garlic (stem removed, minced)
1 tsp smoked or sweet paprika (optional)
2 Tbsp light cream (optional)
1 Reblochon Fermier cheese (or any creamy cheese with a soft rind, enough to cover most of a casserole dish; maybe two wedges of brie, or a couple of soft goat brick cheese like Cabecou)
DIRECTIONS:
1) Preheat oven to 400F (220C)
2) Boil the potatoes for 15-20 minutes, or until you can insert a knife to the center of the potatoes. Strain the potatoes and set aside until they are cool enough to slice.
3) In the meantime, heat the olive oil in a pan, blanch the onion and the garlic until the onions are tender. Add paprika and pepper to taste.
4) Slice the potatoes 1" thick.
5) Arrange the potatoes in a greased casserole dish.
6) Pour the onions and garlic mixture over the potatoes.
7) Pour the light cream on top.
8) Slice the cheese horizontally in half, so you end up with two slices that have a "cream" side and a "rind" side.
9) Set the "rind" side of the cheese against the potatoes, "cream" side facing up.
10) Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese bubbles.
11) Serve right away.
selected by Maca
4 comments:
Overall, I liked the flavor the brie added to the potatoes, and it was enjoyed by all. One mistake I made was trying to microwave the potatoes in order to skip the boiling process, but I misjudged, and as a result I needed considerably more oven time needed than the recipe called for. I think my cheese suffered from that, and it didn’t quite make dinner time on the night I prepared it. But it was still a tasty side dish (eaten the next night), and with that quantity of potatoes, it could feed a crowd. I made a few other minor changes to the recipe. I used half regular potatoes and half sweet potatoes which I think added a good mix. I also substituted the cream with skim milk, but I think it still cooked well. Next time I would add more onions. They were delicious and completely fished out.
Definitely my favorite part of this recipe was the brie flavor, which was incredible. I somehow ended up with a very rich cheese that really jazzed up this recipe, which for me was otherwise boring.
I think I cooked the onions too long and therefore took out their flavor. How do you blanch an onion??? I know how to blanch a vegetable but this recipe called for blanching with olive oil and I didn't quite understand what I was supposed to do so I simply sauteed the onions. Perhaps I cooked it too long? Kara, how did you get your onions to be so dark colored?
Overall, though, my guests really liked the recipe (despite my potatoes being a little undercooked; Laura, you weren't the only one who struggled with that). It was fun to serve something a little bit different as an appetizer with drinks.
Next time, I would figure out how to get a richer flavor for the onions and cook my potatoes for way longer.
Funny that while spending a weekend in Geneva at my brother's, Jon and I would end up in Annecy yesterday, the capital of the French Savoy and tartiflettes...
Ours was a huge hit several weeks back, when we hosted Jon's coworkers. I wasn't able to take a pretty picture of it in a plate, because guests literally tore into it.
As the recipe called for, I used the "insert knife into spud to make sure it's cooked" method; given that the potatoes I used were small, I was afraid to overcook them otherwise, and have them turn to mash at the end. It worked out great.
On the onions, I used plenty of smoked paprika, as the real tartiflette calls for smoked meat. The smoky flavor really worked, which was great. Jon and I were a little skeptical at first. I figured the onions would be the only other dimension this dish had, besides the cheese, so I wasn't shy with the spices and caramelizing the onions as much as possible.
Having had the real deal in Annecy over the weekend, I'd probably add more cream. The restaurant's felt more like a solid mass of taters, cream and cheese. Jon and I kind of prefer our "lighter" version in a way, though...
Maca
My onions were dark because of the paprika. I would definitely make this again, with a few changes:
1) I would saute the potatoes with the onions and paprika to add more flavor. I found them to be a tad on the bland side.
2) I would cook the dish in individual ramekins for better presentation. Maybe I would cut the cheese into wedges to do this.
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