what does love taste like?

For our first meal cooked in our industrial kitchen (on loan), we made a classic Haute-Savoie (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haute_Savoie) meal called tartiflette. How appropriate since we are based in the Savoie region and have Remi (no, not the star of Ratatouille) on our team who was schooled in this region at one of the best culinary schools in France.

As his sous chefs, Xaundelle and I learned his ways, studying carefully so we could replicate this dish in the future. You never know when that perfect opportunity will come about when you have to pull a perfect tartiflette out of your sleeve! It is a delicious comfort food that does a heart good after a hard days work. The substance of the dish is potatoes and onions which are mixed in a white wine and cream sauce that are then covered with halved Reblochon rounds and baked until bubbly and crisp. We served it with a green salad and dijon mustard vinaigrette. We made ours sans bacon to keep it kosher.

Warning: Careful ladies, avoid seconds if you are watching your calories!

Recipe:
Peel and chop about 1 kilo potatoes into large chunks. Parboil them for 5-7 minutes. Drain the potatoes and put in a bowl. In the meantime, peel and thinly slice 2 large onions. Sauté onions in butter. When onions soften, pour white wine in until the onions are just covered. Drown this mixture in cream. Bring this just to a boil and remove from the heat. Stir the onion mixture into the potatoes. Add about 2 cups grated gruyere (or emmental) cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Put potato and onion mixture into the bottom of a casserole dish. Half a large Reblochon round in, width wise. Put the Reblochon face down on top of the potatoes. Bake in a hot oven (400 F, 200 C) for about 45 min or until Reblochon is melted and potatoes are golden brown. Serve lava hot. Feeds about 4-6 people.

For shabbat, we gathered at Timo and Marian’s house in Mons. We made roasted chickens and vegetables, mashed potatoes and a salad with beets, chevre and caramelized pecans tossed in a garlicky honey balsamic vinaigrette. For dessert, Rebekah made her famous berry pavlova. In the words of Timo, “If love had a taste, it would be pavlova.” I couldn’t think of a better way to put it myself. It was a fabulous meal made perfect with good friends and delicious wine.

Pavlova recipe:

Preheat oven to 250 F/130 C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Beat 4 large egg whites with a mixer until they hold soft peaks. Start adding 1 cup sugar very gradually (about 1 TB at a time) until egg whites hold stiff peaks. Add 1 tsp white vinegar and 2 tsp corn starch and mix in by hand gently.

Spread the meringue into the middle of the baking sheet, making a 7 inch circle. Make sure the edges of the meringue are slightly higher than the middle of it. Bake the meringue for about 1 hour 15 min or until crisp on the outside. Meringue should be like marshmallow inside. Turn oven off and leave the meringue inside the oven to cool down. Pull meringue out after about 20 min and let cool completely. Once meringue is room temperature, add unsweetened whipped cream and fresh berries on top. Shave some dark chocolate onto the top, cut up and serve! Feeds about 6-8 people depending on portions.

Tip: If you're like me, you try and decrease the sugar in almost every recipe but this won't work for pavlova! You have to add as much sugar as the recipe calls for to obtain the perfect crispy on the outside, marshmallowy on the inside meringue.

Until next time, Serah