Evening, all! Tonight I present another Chef John joint! (gratuitous Spike Lee reference)
I confess that I would feel like a fraud just giving you a recipe from someone else and saying, “This is good,” if it weren’t for three things: 1) this isn’t just good, it’s amazing; 2) it is, in fact, so good, that it desperately deserves to be shared with a wider audience; and 3) I’ve done this recipe a few times now, and I can share some things I’ve learned, and modifications that I’ve made. That last is the same principle I used almost a year ago, when I posted my loco moco diary, which was also based on a Chef John recipe, with modifications of my own that I made based on the way they do it at a local restaurant. Plus, in both cases, Chef John presented his version of an already-existing dish.
Tartiflette is a French casserole dish, from Savoy, in the region of the Alps. It is not widely known in this country, as far as I can tell. (If you check the tartiflette entry on Chef John’s blog, he says he’d never heard of it before someone brought it to his attention.) It will make a fair amount of leftovers, unless you have a big family or have invited company over. It’s gourmet eating at non-gourmet prices—potatoes and onions are cheap; decent French wine can be had at Trader Joe’s for under $10, or a lower-end California wine will work; the dairy and bacon cost a bit more, of course, but if you can get stuff on sale and stick it in the freezer or fridge, that helps. I found Brie at my local discount grocery last time I made this. (If you live in an area with a Grocery Outlet nearby, I cannot recommend them highly enough.)
For wine, I recommend chardonnay, Sauvignon blanc, white Bordeaux, or similar. It definitely needs to be a dry wine; a sweet wine, like Riesling or Gewurztraminer, will give the casserole a completely different (and wrong!) flavor, a lesson I may have learned once with chicken pot pie (why you bringing up old stuff, ghost?). I also recommend against using a pinot grigio, even though it’s dry—it just doesn’t have the right flavor/notes.
Let’s get to the recipe! (ghost’s notes in bold)
TARTIFLETTE
1 T butter
3 pounds potatoes
12 ounces thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (can cut after cooking if you prefer but before works a little easier)
2 large onions, thinly sliced
1 t kosher salt (I cut this to 1/2 t but I’m a low-salt kind of guy; can also use regular salt)
1/2 t pepper
Pinch cayenne
1/2 c dry white wine
3/4 c crème fraiche (8 ounces)
16-ounce round Reblochon or other ripe, washed rind cheese (see note at the bottom)
Boil unpeeled potatoes in salted water over high heat; reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are easily pierced with a knife but are not too soft, 15-25 minutes, depending on size. Remove potatoes from water to cool. (I’ve done this peeling the potatoes first; I find peeling boiled potatoes to be a pain, but either way works)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cook bacon over medium to medium-high heat until cooked but not quite crisp and most of the fat is rendered out, 5-7 minutes. Blot up some of the fat in the pan with a wadded paper towel; return bacon to pan and add onion slices. Season with kosher salt, pepper, and cayenne. Cook over medium heat until onions are soft, sweet, and golden, about 6 minutes. Add bacon and white wine. Cook for 2 minutes and deglaze pan. Remove from heat.
Cut wheel of cheese into 2 semi-circles, then cut each piece horizontally, to create a total of 4 semi-circles, each with a rind side and creamy cheese side. Set aside. (If you’re using less cheese, then cut it so as to cover as much surface area as possible, which will depend on size of baking dish. See pic below.)
When potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel off the skin; cut into slices about 1/3 inch thick. (If you peeled the potatoes first, you can obviously skip this step.)
Grease a 2-quart shallow baking dish with butter (I have also used a deep 7- by 10-inch pan; also, rubbing a cut piece of garlic over the pan before the butter is a common technique that enhances the flavor). Place just over half the potato slices into bottom of the pan/dish; potatoes can overlap a bit. Sprinkle with a bit of salt (or not; the bacon and cheese provide plenty of salt to this dish). Pour in bacon/onion/wine mixture and spread over potatoes evenly. Arrange remaining potato slices over top, overlapping as needed. Spread crème fraiche over potatoes. Place cheese pieces on top, rind side up.
Place pan on center rack of oven on a baking sheet. Bake 45-50 minutes, until top is browned and potatoes are tender.
NOTE: Because it's made from raw milk, Reblochon cheese is illegal in the US, and cannot be imported from France. Chef John recommends several substitutions, including half Gruyère and half Brie, which I have done, and it works great; I love Gruyère! This time, I did just 8 ounces of Brie, in order to reduce the amount of dairy (Mrs. Spectre has issues with too much lactose); again, it was just fine.
Final note: there is a video on the Chef John blog post, if you find that helpful and/or enjoyable.
Bon apétit!