Tartiflette: One Dish Winter Comfort Food

It is cold outside. Just overnight it has become so cold in Provence, you don't want to leave the house without a big scarf and mittens. And a beanie won't hurt either. But there is reason to rejoice - cold means comfort food and I found just the recipe that spells comfort in capital letters.
Tartiflette hails from the Haute Savoie region of France and takes its name from the Franco Provençal word for potato - tartiflâ. And although it comes along like very simple, few ingredient peasant food this is not a dish with a long rural tradition but a genial bit of marketing dreamt up by some Reblochon producers in the 1980s to promote the sale of their cheese.

 Onions and Bacon

 

 Reblochon Cheese

 

 Tartiflette ready to go into the Oven

Start by parboiling 1 kg/2 lb waxy potatoes. Leave to cool. Peel and finely slice two white onions and sauté them in a bit of butter together with 250 g/ 8oz lardons (bacon bits) until the bacon is cooked and the onion translucent, taking care not the brown the mix. Season with freshly grated pepper - black or white, it doesn't really matter.
Peel and slice the potatoes. Layer the potato slices into a lightly buttered gratin dish, top with the onion/bacon mixture. Drizzle with a bit of either cream or white wine and top with slices of Reblochon. Cook in the oven at 180 C/350 F for 25 to 30 minutes until beautifully browned and bubbling. You won't  have to call your family to the table, the wonderful kitchen smells doing their magic calling them all by themselves. To be served either with a crisp white or a robust red wine.