Tartiflette (well, kind of)

share amongst your chosen few, your band of brothers

A friend of mine had not seen the World War II mini-series Band of Brothers and so one evening, passably drunk after an evening of fine dining, we curled up on the sofa and watched the first episode. Over his loud snores, that familiar HBO signature “buzz” and the first few chords of the opening theme awakened memories of the young man that I had once been, all those many moons ago.

You see, the series had come out when I had just finished my military NCO training and so my mind was cast back to those days when I held a dream of one day becoming a specialist. In the USA, this is perhaps something equivalent to a Master Chief in the Navy Seals. This was the dream, but my colour blindness had put an end to it, even before I had a fighting chance at failure.

So imagine my surprise when slouched on the couch that these old dreams from distant days resurfaced in my mind. For you see, these days it is not so much a Master Chief Navy Seal as it is MasterChef of the Gravy Seals.

Instead of being thanked for my service, I am instead thanked for the second service. After all, it is always important to ensure there is enough for that important second serving, especially when you are making something especially delightful such as the following dish. It is my twist on a tartiflette. I swopped a few ingredients and this makes for enough a very delicious starter for 4 people (or 2 greedy people).

You can have also it as a main course, but then forget any thoughts of basic training for the next few days, for although it is heavenly, it is very heavy.

Ingredients

• One Mont D´Or (or equivalent cheese suitable for baking)

• 700 g amandine (or similar) potatoes

• 2 onions

• 150g cubed bacon

• 2 garlic cloves

• large bunch parsley

• 50 gram rucola salad leaves

• knob of butter

Method

• Start by chopping your onions and then caramelising in butter and oil for around 90 minutes over a low heat. Once dark and golden then add the garlic and give them 10 minutes to lightly fry.

• Remove the onion and garlic (I actually just push them to the corner of the large pan) and then increase the heat. Add the bacon and fry until golden.

• Slice your cheese into slices around 1-2cm thick.

• In an oven proof pan layer the potatoes, then onion and garlic, ruccola and then bacon. Then add some salt, pepper and parsley. Lay a layer of cheese on top and then repeat with remaining onion potatoes, ruccola, bacon and then finally the remaining cheese (I make 2 layers).

• Then bake in oven at 200C Fan for around 15 minutes (or golden).

• Once tops are golden then remove and sprinkle with parsley.

• Serve with a baguette (perfect for scooping out melted cheese) and a dry white wine.

Notes:

You can add breadcrumbs onto of the tartiflette before baking to give a crunchy texture to the dish.

You will notice that I have dropped the milk and cream from this recipe. For a small starter I would typically avoid. Adding milk or cream, it becomes more of a bake.