Only The Best Tartiflette…

If you are on a low-fat diet, look away now. Or don’t. But I warn you, once you read what’s below, you won’t be able to resist.  And how can you.  I mean I’m talking bacon, cheese, cream, potatoes.

With all this horrible cold, wet and windy weather, I was craving something warm and comforting.  I first came across this recipe in Delicious Magazine. A Tartiflette is a very traditional French dish made with Reblochon cheese.  I, however, mix it up and do mine with a soft blue cheese. I also add a few other less traditional ingredients like dried herbs, mushrooms and courgette.  For some reason if I add a few vegetables I feel a whole lot better about consuming all that yummy cheesy, creamy, bacony goodness. This is also a great meal to make with leftovers from a roast chicken dinner – using the leftover chicken and even the leftover vegetables!

So with the twins fully entrenched in some serious train track building, I’m going to share with you one of my favorite comfort foods.

P.S My mouth is already watering…

Tamara’s Tartiflette

Ingredients:

• 3 cooked chicken breasts or the leftovers from a roasted chicken – shredded
• 3-4 medium sized waxy potatoes sliced thin
• 200g of smoked bacon – I used traditional French Lardons
• 1 medium onion diced
• 1 courgette – sliced thin
• 200g of chestnut mushrooms – sliced thin
• 1 teaspoon of thyme
• 1 teaspoon of tarragon
• 2 tablespoons of flour (or you can use arrowroot powder for grain/gluten free)
• 250g of soft blue cheese chopped
• 200ml of chicken stock
• 200ml of double cream
• 1 teaspoon Olive Oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 200C and grease a roasting dish. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat and add the bacon.  Cook the bacon until it just starts to crisp up.  Remove and set aside.  Add the onion to the frying pan and cook until soft.  Once soften, add the herbs, mushrooms and courgette and again, cook until they start to soften. Once softened, add the bacon back in and sprinkle over the flour.  Mix to combine. Take of the heat and set aside.

If you don’t have any leftover chicken, poach the chicken breasts in a pot of stock for about 10-15 minutes. Take the chicken out and shred. Add your potatoes to the pot of stock (or a pot of boiling water) and cook for 5 minutes, then drain.  Mix together the chicken stock, cream and a dash of salt and pepper.

Now you’re ready to assemble. I like to do two layers. First some potatoes, then veg, then chicken, liquid and 1/3 of your cheese. Repeat one more time then cover the whole top in a layer of potatoes.  Put in the oven and cook for 40 minutes until the potatoes are nice and brown.  Add the remaining 1/3 cheese to the top with 15 minutes left.  Remove from the oven and ideally let stand for 10 minutes before cutting into it – although I’ve never been able to wait – but when you go back for seconds the sauce will have thickened up a bit and taste even better.  This is just as delicious the next day.

Pancakes for Two

If you have never heard of Pancake Tuesday then you’re probably from the States… where instead of pancakes its King Cake. I’m originally from Canada and eating pancakes before ash wednesday is a tradition there, like in most commonwealth countries. This year, lent and Chinese New Year are colliding, so to honor both holidays, I am making Chinese Duck Pancakes.

Before moving to Asia, we had one firm rule while traveling – no eating from places that had pictures on the menu.  This rule has served us well (mostly to avoid tourist traps!) but when we moved to Shanghai and couldn’t read or speak the language, pictures on menus became much more appealing.  One of our first meals after we arrived in Shanghai was at a restaurant in a shopping mall near our hotel.  Thankfully it had pictures and we ordered what we could most easily recognize.  One of those items was duck with pancakes.  I still remember when it came to the table – a huge pile of duck all cut up – on the bone.  It wasn’t exactly how I had imagined it, but it was delicious!  I still remember it 5 years later…

Chinese Duck Pancakes

For the Duck:

• 2 duck breast or if readily available, a whole duck
• Chinese 5 spice
• olive oil
• hoisin sauce
• cucumber green onions finely sliced for garnish

For the pancakes

• 2 cups flour plus more for rolling
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1/2 cold water
• seseme oil
• a pair of chop sticks

Start by preheating the oven to 150C. Place the duck on a rack inside a roasting dish, rub with oil and dust all over with the 5 spice.  Cook the breasts for 1.5 hours or a whole bird for 3, making sure to check on it periodically and removing some of the fat drippings as it cooks. Turn the heat up to 200C for the last 15-20 minutes to crisp up that skin.  When done, remove the bird and put it aside to rest.  Once cooled, tear the meat into pieces with your fingers or some forks.

While your meat cools, make your pancake dough.  Place your flour in a bowl and mix in the hot water and then cold water, stirring with your chopsticks until a dough forms.  Dust a clean surface, turn out your dough and knead until it forms a smooth ball.  Let is rest under a clean damp towel for 20-30 minutes.  Once rested, roll your dough into a log and then cut the log into 10-12 pieces.  Sprinkle your board with more flour, taking one piece at a time (while the others rest under that damp towel) first pat it down into a free form pancake.  Brush the top with oil, then flip it over and roll it out to form a 6inch pancake.  Don’t worry if its not perfectly round – that’s how you know its homemade 😉

Heat a heavy bottomed skillet and add a drop of oil to coat.  Cook your pancake on one side until its brown and bubbling (about 1 minute) and then flip.  The second side will cook faster so make sure to keep an eye out! Keep your cooked pancakes under a damp cloth until serving.

*Sorry no photos of the pancakes. I was also trying to feed my boys their dinner at the same time – but I loosely followed this recipe – Mandarin Pancakes

To serve, take a pancake, add a good helping of the duck and garnish with fresh cucumber and spring onion.  Finish with a drizzle of hoisin sauce.  If your hoisin is too thick, thin it out with a little water.

This recipe left us with plenty of leftovers…and was just as delicious out of the fridge cold for breakfast.  Don’t take my word for it though…ask my two year old…who wouldn’t even let me finish this shot 🙂