Tartiflette is a classic French dish of tender potatoes and crispy bacon that are baked together with a creamy melty cheese. It’s a wonderfully comforting dish for a cold winter’s night.
Tartiflette
Last week it was French onion soup and this week it is tartiflette and all I have to say is that I am digging French food right now.
Is digging something still en vogue?
Should I even be saying en vogue?
Whatever, you get my point – I’ve been pulling a lot of inspiration from the land of baguettes, beef bourguignon, steak frites, and, now, tartiflette.
In other news, it’s been raining a lot here lately so I like the idea of warming up my kitchen with comforting dishes like tartiflette, which is basically a simple baked potato dish. It’s popular in the French Alps where people like a hearty warming bites after frolicking in the snow all day. We don’t get a lot of snow here in North Carolina, but the chilly damp weather is the perfect excuse to whip up hearty and comforting recipes like this tartiflette – I couldn’t resist all the melty cheese, crispy bacon, sweet onions, and tender potatoes.
Let’s face it: this dish has pretty much all my favorite things – including wine(!) – and there was no way I wasn’t going to make it.
My version is a mash-up of two recipes: Anthony Bourdain’s and Felicity Cloakes’. I would have stuck with Mr. Bourdain’s from the get-go except he didn’t specify what type of potato to use, so I searched for guidance – for this recipe you want to stick with a waxy variety, which I learned after reading Felicity’s wonderful notes on the topic. I settled on Yukon golds – they hold their shape well and have a great texture.
Surprisingly, the dish didn’t come to be thanks to a French cuisine founding father but instead was created by the folks that make Reblochon cheese – the cheese of choice when making this dish. The story reminds me of how the chocolate chip cookie rose to fame and is, once again, a reminder that marketing people do rule this world. Unfortunately, there was no Reblochon to be found at my local grocery store (6/18 update: reblochon – a raw milk cheese – is very difficult to get in the US) and I sure as heck wasn’t going on a cheese hunting mission on the Saturday after Christmas. Ugh, the traffic. Fortunately, Felicity addressed this potential problem in her notes so I had a few options – either brie or camembert. I chose brie. Moral of the story? You want to use a creamy melty cow’s milk cheese for this dish.
If you’re in need of a winter warmer this tartiflette is the answer – serve it as a main dish with a salad on the side and glasses of white wine, preferably the same kind you used in the dish itself. It’s cheesy, cozy, and comforting – a perfect dish for January.
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Tartiflette
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
Tartiflette is a classic French dish of tender potatoes and crispy bacon that are baked together with a creamy melty cheese. It’s a wonderfully comforting dish for a cold winter’s night.
Ingredients
- 1 pound Yukon gold potatoes
- 8 ounces bacon, sliced
- 1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 8 ounces brie, rind removed (see note)
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 1 1/2 quart baking dish and set aside.
- Place the potatoes in a stock pot and cover them with cold water. Bring the pot to a boil over high heat and let the potatoes boil for about 20 minutes, or until they are fork tender. Drain them and set them aside to cool. Once cooled, cut them into bite-sized pieces.
- While the potatoes are boiling, cook the bacon in a large pan until it’s crispy. Remove the bacon and drain off all but about 1 tablespoon of the fat. Add the onions to the pan and cook them over medium heat for about ten minutes, or so, just until they start to brown. Add in the garlic and cook them with the onions for a couple of minutes.
- Next, add the white wine to the onions and garlic. Bring it to a simmer for a few minutes and then add the potatoes to the pan and give it all a stir to combine. Turn off the heat and set the pan aside.
- Before building the casserole first carefully slice the brie in half so you have two circles of brie. Next, cut each circle into quarters.
- To build the casserole, first scoop about a third of the potato mixture into the baking dish. Sprinkle a third of the bacon over the top and then top that with two of the pieces of brie. Repeat these layers, alternating where you place the brie so every bite has some melty cheese until you’ve run out of ingredients. Top the casserole with the chopped chives.
- Bake the casserole at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or so or until the cheese is nicely melted and bubbly. Serve immediately.
Notes
Traditional tartiflette calls for a lot of cheese – up to one pound – but I scaled it back for this version and used only 8 ounces of brie. To easily remove the rind, use a vegetable peeler to scrape off the rind – you’ll get most of it off without sacrificing any of the creamy cheese.
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: French
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 of recipe
- Calories: 541
- Sugar: 2.3g
- Sodium: 734.9mg
- Fat: 38g
- Saturated Fat: 17.4g
- Unsaturated Fat: 18.4g
- Trans Fat: 0.1g
- Carbohydrates: 23g
- Fiber: 2.6g
- Protein: 21.4g
- Cholesterol: 93.7mg
Keywords: tartiflette
gigi says
We make tartiflettes here where I live in France. They are super hearty and rich and delicious! Perfect for when you have several people over for dinner.
April says
Perfect winter dish, right?!
Denise | Sweet Peas & Saffron says
This sure looks like one glorious bowl of comfort! I am craving comfort food these days, and this looks so delicious!!
April says
Thanks, Denise!