Tartiflette Savoyarde

I first had Tartiflette from my friend Didier's French restaurant. I instantly fell in love with it. It is French cuisine at its best, butter, cream and obviously Reblochon cheese. Reblochon is a French cheese that comes from the Alps region of Haute-Savoie, originally in the Thônes and Arly valleys. It is made from unpasteurized cow's milk and is very soft in texture and nutty in taste. This simple dish is a delectable unique taste of France and the distinctive taste of Reblochon makes it a must for everyone who loves and appreciates French cuisine. Give it a go and am quite sure you will love it. For 4 people you will need...

• 1 Petit Reblochon (200g), sliced in 1 cm slices
• 200ml crème fraiche
• 500g potatoes
• 150g bacon lardons
• 1 large onion, sliced
• Butter & olive oil for frying

1. Start by cooking potatoes with the skin on. Make sure you do not over cook them. Use a skewer to check if they are cooked. As soon as the skewer goes through take them off the heat. Peel them carefully and slice them in 1cm slices.
   
2. Heat some butter and olive oil in a frying pan and fry the onion until translucent and soft. Add the bacon lardons and cook until brown. 
3. Take the onion/bacon mixture out of the pan and in the same pan fry the potato slices until they are golden.
4. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
5. Put half the potato slices in a buttered small oval oven dish  and pour half of the cream and scatter half of the onion/bacon mixture. Repeat the process until you use all the potato slices, cream and onion/bacon mixture.
6. Now to finish the dish, place the Reblochon slices on top and bake for about 15-20 minutes until the cheese is melted. Serve hot with a glass of good French white wine.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Pumpkin & Courgette Lasagna

These delicious lasagne are made as the title obviously says with pumpkin and zucchine. Unfortunately during Halloween, pumpkins in the UK are just used for carving and the flesh discarded, which is a pity as they can be used in various recipes, from savoury to sweet. Here in the UK they mostly use the butternut squash which is similar to pumpkin. Well luckily, that said it was a very big advantage for us as we bought two massive pumpkins for just £1 each, chopped them into chunks and froze them in freezer bags as by the way they only appear during Halloween over here. Back to the lasagne, this is prepared with layers of grilled zucchine, sliced mozzarella, single cream and delicious pumpkin and bacon purée. The most time consuming procedure of this recipe is preparing and grilling the zucchine, which you can always prepare in advance if you like. If you do not have or you cannot find pumpkin you can do this with butternut squash. Also, if you want some delicious vegetarian lasagne just leave the bacon part out! If you omit the cream, the lasagne will end up very dry so do use it, you can use light cream or even milk thickened with flour instead. Anyhow here are the ingredients that you will need...

• 4 large zucchine/courgettes, sliced lengthwise
• 1.5 kg pumpkin, cut into large pieces
• 3 mozzarella balls [375g], sliced
• 100g streaky bacon, chopped into small pieces (optional)
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 150ml single cream
• 250g lasagne sheets
• Pinch ground nutmeg
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• Olive oil

How to...

1. Firstly prepare the zucchine. Start by brushing them with olive oil, then grill them until soft. [The thinner you slice them, the quicker they will cook]. When done put them on a plate with kitchen roll and set them aside.
2. Next fry the onion in 2 tbsp of olive oil until soft and transparent. When the onion is done, add the bacon and the garlic and cook until the bacon is golden. Set aside.
3. Preheat the oven to 220°C. Put the pumpkin in a large oven tray skin side up, add a small glass of water. Bake in the hot oven for about 30 minutes. When cooked, carefully peel the skin off or scoop the flesh with a teaspoon.
4. Next put the cooked pumpkin together with the onion/bacon mixture in a blender, add some olive oil and the nutmeg, season well with salt & pepper and blend until you get a smooth purée.
5. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
6. Now it is time to start layering the lasagne. Start by pouring some cream, then some pumpkin mixture, then lasagne sheets, then another layer of pumpkin purée, sliced zucchine, mozzarella slices, then start all over again and continue until you have used all of the ingredients. Be careful not to press the lasagne sheets too much, just put them loosely.
7. When done, put in the hot oven and bake until the top is brown and bubbly. Around 30 to 45 minutes.

Enjoy!!!!

R&A

Penne Parnassus

This pasta dish is another of our own creations. It got its name from the movie The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. We were watching this great movie whilst chomping on a wonderful plate of this dish. It is a very tasty sauce and quite filling as well. The honey gives this sauce its sweetness whilst the bacon balances the palate by providing the necessary saltiness. Also, as cooked chicken, I roasted 4 small drumsticks, took the meat off the bone and diced the chicken meat. It gave the dish  an added delicious roast chicken flavour, but you can easily used chicken breast. These ingredients are for 3-4 people, again depending on how big your portions are. Feel free to adapt adequately. Hope you will try it and enjoy it!

• 300g penne
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 200g diced cooked chicken breast
• 100g bacon, cut into small pieces
• 100ml single cream
• ½ teaspoon dried sage
• 200ml chicken or vegetable stock (I used a Knorr stock pot)
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Ground black pepper, to taste
• Grated Parmesan or Kefalotiri cheese, to serve

How to...

1. Start by roasting the chicken drumsticks. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Put them in an oven dish with a griddle in it and season with ground black pepper. Roast the chicken pieces for 30 minutes, leave to cool and dice the meat. If using chicken breast, grill the split the chicken breast until golden on both sides and then chop into small dice. Set aside.
2. Fry the onion in the oil until transparent and soft. Add the bacon and cook until brown and crispy.
3. Add the chicken to the bacon and stir well.
4. Add the pepper, sage and 2 tbsp of honey. Stir fry for a couple of minutes.
5. Add the stock and reduce the stock on a high heat.
6. In the meantime cook the pasta.
7. When the stock is reduced, add the cream. Stir well and heat slowly on low heat, make sure you do not boil the cream.
8. Mix the sauce with the cooked pasta and sprinkle with the grated parmesan or Kefalotiri cheese.

Enjoy!!
R&A