This is definitely comfort food! (Please read again, this is not for anybody on a diet or anybody with high cholesterol…)
It is a traditional French Savoie dish made with Reblochon cheese.
I have not made this recipe many times yet so I am currently perfecting my preferred recipe. The current one is amazingly tasty but maybe a bit too runny or liquid. In any case it is absolutely amazing !
Ingredients :
8 to 10 Potatoes depending on size, 2 onions (I use red ones but you can use normal white one as well). Use buttery or creamy potatoes.
- Pancetta or Lardons
- A Reblochon, either a full one or a half one is ok
- A glass of white wine. (I actually do not use any)
- A mandoline (to cut the vegetables quickly)
- Black pepper, Nutmeg
Peel the Potatoes, then slice them approx 5mm thick. Put them in a bowl of water so that they do not go brown and also you loose a bit of the starch. I use the largest setting on my Japanese mandolin.
Slide the onions using the same setting.
Put the lardons and or Pancetta into a pan and lightly cook. Once they start taking a bit of colour and the water is evaporated and only the fat from the lardon is left in the pan, take the lardons out and put aside. Now cook the onions in the pan with the fat of the lardons.
Do not “FRY” the onions, just cook them gently so that they take a bit of colour, that is it. If you are using white wine, you should add it here and make sure that all the water of the wine evaporates or gets absorbed by the vegetables.
(If you are not using creamy potatoes, then you might need to cook them a little bit before putting them in the oven proof dish. Maybe boil the potatoes for 5 minutes max).
Take a oven proof dish and layer the potatoes, then the mixture of lardons and onions, poor a bit of cream on this. Season with a bit of black pepper. Then another layer of potattoes, then another layer of onions and lardons and a bit of cream. Go easy on the cream, you just want the potatoes to stay creamy. You can then grate a bit of nutmeg.
Keep going until you have used all the onions and Lardons and finish with a layer of potatoes. Then take the Reblochon and cut it in half through its thickness so that you get 2 pieces with skin. Lay the reblochon on top of everything skin up. Sorry I forgot to take the picture of the final dish before going into the oven…
Cook in the oven at 160 degrees with a fan assisted oven. Check the cooking so that the top goes nice a brown and the potatoes are cooked through. Maybe 20/30 minutes.
Enjoy !
