Do you wish you could take a gastronomic tour of France? Imagine all the dining fun to be had in places with wonderful names that you can almost taste as you read them: Champagne, Dijon, Provence . . .

I lived in Provence for a year during which I spoke (and shopped, and cooked) in French. Since then, I’ve made happy use of the Web to learn more about the country, its history, literature and cuisine.

Even if I can’t travel there right now, I can still enjoy some French food, and so can you. In case you’re in the mood to try a French recipe, here is an easy one that I’ve researched and tested myself. It’s a modern recipe from the Savoy region. Tartiflette is a deluxe, cheesy version of scalloped potatoes, a casual, filling dish for winter months. By no means a diet food, but a treat for a cold day, maybe after some skiing!

Before I start, let me mention that right away we run up against an unusual ingredient, a cheese called “reblochon.” Most of us won’t be able to track down this historic Savoy cheese because it is made with raw milk. We can substitute camembert or brie (the runnier the better) and still get a fine result. The other ingredients are all quite common.

Read the whole recipe before you start. Did I just say that out loud? *laugh* And if you want to see a photo, there's a link to one below the recipe. I am not that handy with my camera yet!

TARTIFLETTE (serves 4; prep 20 mins; cooking 90 mins)

Ingredients:

6 rashers smoked bacon, chopped (~200 g)
2 onions, minced
2 lbs. potatoes (1 kg)
butter (to grease the casserole dish)
1 cup dry white wine (250 ml)

Savoy is a mountainous region famous for its white wines. Apremont is a type often mentioned in the recipes. In our case, an inexpensive but drinkable bottle will do – ask at the store for a dry French white that will go well with your chosen soft-rind cheese. (Never cook with a wine you wouldn’t drink! There is no such thing as “cooking wine!” Gah!)

1 cup crème fraiche or similar (250 ml)
fresh-ground pepper
salt
sprigs of fresh thyme (optional)

If you can’t find fresh thyme, bear in mind that where a tablespoon of a fresh herb appears in a recipe, it will take just a teaspoon of dried herb to replace its flavour. That’s a 3:1 ratio. But in this recipe, use your own judgment and taste to decide how much to put in.

1 small camembert or brie cheese

Directions:

1.    Preheat the oven to 400F.
2.    Fry the onions and bacon together over medium-high heat. The more you brown these, the more intense will be their flavour in the final dish, so it's your choice.
3.    Peel and wash the potatoes and slice them thinly. Put them into a buttered casserole dish with the chopped bacon and onion. Mix well.

Use a mandoline on the potatoes if you have one. If not, try to get them all the same thickness so that they will cook evenly.

4.    Pour in the wine and cream, add salt and pepper to taste, and sprinkle a few sprigs of thyme over all.
5.    Put it in the oven and let it cook for 75 minutes. If it starts to get too brown or crispy on the top, put some aluminum foil over it for the remainder of the cooking time.
6.    While the dish is cooking, unwrap the cheese and slice it thinly (rind and all).
7.    After 75 minutes, take the casserole out and arrange the cheese slices over the top. Bake for another 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Some recipes call for you to cut the cheese wheel into large wedges or even cross-sections and to distribute them, rind up, across the top of the casserole before baking. Then the cheese melts down into the potatoes while it all bakes together. I also read that smoked salmon can replace the bacon, but I haven’t tried that.

What to serve with this? Some slices of ham or roast pork would not go amiss. I’d suggest a crunchy salad with a vinaigrette dressing. And to drink, why not the rest of that bottle of white wine? Afterwards, a bowl of fruit or some other light dessert would help balance such a caloric dish.

Note: I looked at many recipes in both English and French before settling on my version. Try these if you’d like to take a look at some of the many variations!

TendanceCuisine (French)
Epicurious: Tartiflette
Recette de la tartiflette
Dailymotion: La tartiflette du Jules
A photo of tartiflette

In summary: an easy winter treat from Savoy ski country. Delicious!

CG

I want to do more food blogging, but a bit under the weather today, and then I saw this meme...

This is so fun, but I ask you, what kind of music could possibly be on this album? I vote "post-modern idiosyncratic noise."

1 - Click here. The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band, man.

2 - Click here. The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your fantasy album.

3 - Click here. The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.

5 - Post and tag the friends you want to afflict - er, invite to make an album of their own.

I'd enjoy seeing some other efforts. I love an excuse to open Photoshop, amateur though I am. (And as for what kind of musician I am.... LOL!)

Later edit: Tyche did it! Xanustarx rocked it! Queenoscots did it twice! LetMeGoToo's album is . . . scary! Gneiss_Guy can even describe the music on his album.

One day I’d like to do some real food blogs, with photos and everything. But in the meantime . . .

I have a new slow cooker, and I want to make great use of it. An acquaintance who knows of my quest suggested this concoction to me. Even though it contains no exotic ingredients whatsoever, I had a feeling it might be tasty. I vowed to myself that if it turned out well today, I’d be sure to share it here.

I’ve just eaten a memorable supper. It was so successful, in fact, that I leapt up to compose this entry right after clearing up the kitchen. No one should be without such a delicious sausage recipe.

Whatever size slow cooker you have, don’t worry. Just open it up and sprinkle therein, in order:

1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced

Now for the sausage. You need 3 lbs.  I used hot Italian sausage, but I’m sure that any kind you like will work, although I’d opt for a robust variety, to stand up to the sauce. I was advised to chop them into 8 pieces, but since I had 5 sausages, I just cut them in half so they’d fit better in the bottom of the cooker. No precooking! Just lay the pieces out on top of the veggies as evenly as you can. Then cover with:

½ tsp. thyme
½ tsp. oregano
1 bay leaf
1 jar tomato sauce (I used Prego Original Recipe, but use your fave)

That’s it. Set it on low for 8 hours. Meanwhile, either nip out and buy a bunch of hoagie buns or submarine rolls, or get out your bread machine and make up some dough, because you will want something special to put these sausages in. I’m glad I made homemade rolls.

I know, it doesn’t seem like much is going on here. Eight hours later, though, not only will you have a delicious thick tomato sauce (much of which I’ll be using on pasta tomorrow, I think), but the sausages will have simmered into heavenly savory tenderness. I don’t think I’ve had better, even on the barbecue.

If you want to be able to pick up your sandwiches, go easy on the tomato sauce, but you can also eat these drowned in sauce, with knife and fork. We opted to pick them up, and we added some hot mustard, too.

How many will this serve? Depends, how hungry are they? Often the number of servings stated in a recipe is just funny. My husband and I ate two sandwiches each, and I think that was about half the recipe. So yes, technically I’d say this “serves eight.” But depending on the size of your slow cooker, this recipe would be easy to double or triple if those “eight” are great burly fellows with improbable appetites.

Thank goodness for acquaintances with wonderful ideas! This recipe is so easy, it’s going straight onto my list of the greatest. Not to mention that my house smelled divine all afternoon.