This old house is quite draughty and cold, so on each dark, bone-chilling night dinner takes on a new significance. Not just a hot dinner to fatten and fill, but something that will warm our very souls.
That alpine dish of tartiflette, whose layers of potatoes, onions, smoked bacon and reblochon cheese helps to thaw out skiers and snowboarders alike after a day on the slopes, is possibly the most warming dish ever invented. I have never found a recipe that does its job quite so successfully. I increase the amount of cheese according to how cold the weather is. Traditionally the dish is all about reblochon, whose pale milky curds melt into a velvety blanket, and whose flavour softens upon heating, but other good melting cheeses can be added, too. Just don't tell the purists and pedants.
This year I swapped half the potatoes in my tartiflette for Jerusalem artichokes, a winter favourite in my kitchen. The artichokes added a break from the mounds of potato – a welcome earthiness and another way to use these under-valued tubers.
Another cheese that gets its place in the sun at this time of year is raclette. I find the original idea of setting a whole cheese in the open hearth, then, as it melts, scraping the softening cheese on to bread, a notion almost too delicious to contemplate. The modern version, where raclette cheese is left to melt over hot potatoes, is a reminder of just how good simple food can be. Once you add a few accompaniments in the shape of knobbly little cornichons and a slice or two cut from a decent salami then you have afine dinner indeed.
This week, with that warming dinner in mind, I knocked up a slim, crisp tart, complete with a scattering of sliced cornichons, shredded salami and a few hot, soft green peppercorns. Brought to the table with a bowl of crisp and spiky salad, it kept out the cold for yet another winter's night.
Raclette tart
You will need a shallow tart tin with a removable base, about 22cm in diameter.
Serves 6
For the pastry:
plain flour 200g
butter 100g
egg 1 yolk
milk a little
For the filling:
raclette 350g, thinly sliced
salami 50g thinly sliced or shredded
green peppercorns 2 tsp
cornichons 12
eggs 2 yolks
crème fraîche 200ml
thyme leaves a good pinch
Make the pastry first. Put the flour in a large mixing bowl with a pinch of salt. Cut the butter, rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles soft fresh breadcrumbs (a matter of seconds in a food processor). Add the egg yolk, mix a little more then add enough milk – a couple of tablespoons – to bring the dough to asoft, rollable consistency.
Using a little flour on a wooden board, roll the pastry out and use it to line a 22cm shallow-sided tart tin – preferably one with a removable base. Line with baking parchment or greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans. Set aside for 20 minutes in the fridge to rest. This will stop it shrinking during baking. Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6 and place a metal baking sheet in the oven.
When the pastry case has rested, bake on the hot baking sheet for 20 minutes. Remove the case from the oven, carefully lift out the paper and baking beans, then return to the oven for 5 minutes, until dry to the touch. Lower the heat to 180C/gas mark 4.
For the filling, put the egg yolks in a mixing bowl, then stir in the crème fraîche and a little salt and black pepper. Slice the cornichons in half lengthways, shred the salami, rinse the green peppercorns and chop the thyme leaves.
Place the slices of cheese neatly in the base of the tart case. Scatter over the shredded salami, green peppercorns and cornichons, then pour over the crème fraîche and egg mixture. Carefully carry it to the oven, place on the heated tray, and bake for 25-30 minutes until the filling is lightly set and pale gold. Leave to cool a little before serving.
Artichoke 'tartiflette'
If you want a deeply cheese-laden, uber-warming version, then you could add more cheese and crème fraîche – about half as much again – but this is quite enough for me. A crisp salad involving frisee, watercress and perhaps Belgian chicory would be just the thing with which to mop your plate.
Serves 4
floury potatoes 600g
Jerusalem artichokes 400g
smoked lardons or pancetta 250g
olive oil a little
red onions 2, sliced
crème fraîche 300ml
reblochon 350g
parmesan a little (optional)
Peel the potatoes and artichokes then steam or boil them in deep, salted water until tender. They take roughly the same time, so you can cook them together. Drain and cut each one into thick slices. Don't worry if they crumble a little. Cut the pancetta into short, thick pieces. Heat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4.
Warm the olive oil in a shallow pan, add the lardons or pancetta and cook over a moderate heat with the occasional stir, until the fat is golden. Transfer the pancetta to a plate, leaving behind the oil and fat. Peel the onions, then slice thickly. Add them to the oil and pancetta fat and cook for 10 minutes, until pale gold and soft.
Put the sliced potatoes and artichokes in the pan with the softened onions, and continue cooking for 3 or 4 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally, until they have coloured lightly here and there. Stir in the cooked pancetta.
Cut the reblochon into thick slices. Spoon a layer of the potato, onion and bacon into a dish, add a few slices of reblochon then more potato mixture. Finish with spoonfuls of the crème fraîche and, if you wish, a fine grating of parmesan.
Bake the tartiflette for about 40 minutes until bubbling.
Email Nigel at nigel.slater@observer.co.uk. Follow Nigel on Twitter @NigelSlater
