A dish that's typical of the mountains and a perfect remedy for chilly winter days, but that can also please a vegetarian? The answer is, of course, vegetarian tartiflette!
Winter has arrived in Quebec, albeit a little late. So we've started the raclette season. Since I own a traditional deviceI have to buy a grinding wheel to be able to use it. It's rare for the wheel to be finished the same evening, and since we don't want to eat raclette for a week either, I had to find a way of disposing of the remaining raclette cheese. I had to find a solution to get rid of the remaining raclette cheese.
So I used the leftover raclette to make a vegetarian tartiflette. I know that tartiflette is normally made with reblochon, but it's a rare (and expensive!) commodity in Montreal. If you're a purist or have extra reblochon, don't hesitate to use it.
On the vegetarian side, it's pretty easy, since tartiflette uses just one non-vegetarian ingredient: lardons. The best vegetarian alternative to these is smoked tofu. Some would even venture to say that smoked tofu is better than lardons... I'll let you be the judge of that.
In any case, here's a good, comforting vegetarian dish. Proof, too, that vegetarian doesn't necessarily mean light and healthy. This is a good winter dish that's best avoided if you're trying to lose weight.
To ease your conscience, you can serve the vegetarian tartiflette with a simple green salad and an vinaigrette. This is done very often and makes the meal less heavy.
Get cooking!
PrintVegetarian Tartiflette
- Total Time: 1h
- Yield: 6-8 people 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
A typical mountain dish and a perfect remedy for chilly winter days, of course, is vegetarian Tartiflette!
Ingredients
- 1.2 kg potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
- 200 gr smoked tofu, diced
- 1 chopped onion
- 125 ml (½ cup) white wine
- 60 ml (¼ cup) cooking cream 35 %
- 1 ml (¼ tsp.) ground nutmeg
- 1 reblochon (about 450 g) or raclette cheese
Instructions
- Place potatoes in a saucepan. Cover with cold water. Season with salt. Bring to the boil and simmer until potatoes are tender. Drain and let cool.
- Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
- In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, lightly brown the smoked tofu. Add the onion and continue cooking until the onion is tender.
- Butter a gratin dish (approx. 27 x 18 cm), and arrange half the potatoes on top. Add half the smoked tofu and onion. Repeat a second time with the remaining potatoes, tofu and onion.
- Drizzle the cream over the potatoes. Sprinkle with nutmeg.
- Cut the cheese wheel in half horizontally. Place the two pieces of cheese side by side on the potatoes, rind side up (you can also cut the cheese into large pieces, see notes).
- Drizzle with white wine.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
- Enjoy!
Notes
For carnivores, you can replace the tofu with bacon or lardons, which also work well.
The traditional recipe uses reblochon, but any other nearby cheese will do. I made it with leftover raclette cheese and it worked well. Choose a wheel of cheese rather than thinly sliced cheese.
If you don't have a cheese wheel, or you don't want to cut up the Reblochon and place it whole in the dish. It's possible to cut your cheese into large chunks and insert them all over your dish, keeping a little to cover the top of the dish for better gratinating.
Tartiflette is often accompanied by a very simple green salad with a little vinaigrette for a light meal.
- Prep Time: 30
- Cook Time: 30
- Category: Main course
- Cuisine: French
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