Raclette, or Melted Cheese, Potatoes, and Pickles

by Marlena Spieler
from Yummy Potatoes: 65 Downright Delicious Recipes
(Chronicle Books, 2007)
Serves 4 to 6

When I mention a book on potatoes, nine people out of ten will ask hopefully, “Raclette?” What is it about raclette that is so enticing? I mean, it’s a simple dish: sizzling melty cheese, hot boiled potatoes, marinated or pickled onions, or both, as in this recipe. No cooking skills or acrobatics required. But perhaps that is it exactly. Raclette is all about the potatoes, and the cheese. And the temperature: You must keep the cheese hot, and the potatoes pretty warm, too, or the cheese seizes up unappealingly. For perfection in the temperature and organizational department, there are special machines to melt the edges of the cheese, so that each little plate of raclette can be tempting from start to finish, and you can then progress to another plate of the deliciousness. Lacking a special machine, I line up little baking pans and warm a stack of little plates.

Raclette, by the way, is the name of the French and Swiss mountain cheeses the dish is based on; they are similar but by no means the same — taste both and decide which is your favorite. I quite often make raclette using whichever cheese I happen to have in the house; recently I made a mixture of young (12 months) Grana Padano and jack, sprinkled with white wine, and it was terrific.—Marlena Spieler

convert Ingredients
For the marinated onions
2 red onions, sliced thinly crosswise
2 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons red or white wine vinegar

For the raclette
2 to 2 1/2 pounds small tender new potatoes
1 pound French or Swiss raclette cheese, or a mixture of other cheeses (see headnote), thinly sliced
1 to 2 tablespoons dry white wine
Small cornichons, or dill pickles, sliced
Pickled onions, preferably the large-ish malt vinegar pickled English onions, cut into quarters

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Method
For the marinated onions
1. Place the sliced red onions in a bowl and pour boiling water over them, to cover. Leave for about 30 minutes, to soften in both texture and flavor.

2. Drain, then combine with the sugar and vinegar. Set aside. This can be made four or five days ahead and kept in the refrigerator.

For the raclette
1. Cook the potatoes in gently boiling salted water until they are just tender, but not overcooked. Drain, then return to the pot; cover and keep them hot.

2. Divide the cheese into three batches and arrange in three pans. Sprinkle the cheese with the wine.

3. Arrange the marinated onions in a bowl and place on the table, along with the cornichons and pickled onions.

4. Heat the broiler and warm several small plates (preferably one per person, for each batch of raclette, so that the dish can be eaten piping hot) in the oven. When ready to go, place several hot potatoes onto the first batch of hot plates.

5. Place the first pan of cheese under the broiler. Heat, watching the cheese all the while so that it doesn’t burn, until it melts and sizzles; remove immediately and divide the cheese into individual portions onto each hot plate of potatoes. Whisk immediately to the table, so that the potatoes can be eaten hot, with the pickles.

6. When the first round of potatoes and cheese is finished, gather up the plates and repeat. Three rounds of potatoes and cheese should please even the most passionate of cheese-and-potato-holics.

Recipe © 2007 by Marlena Spieler. All rights reserved.
© 2009 Leite’s Culinaria, Inc. All rights reserved. Terms of use.