Cooking Lesson #1115: Reblochon Cheese & Potato Casserole

…from the Perspectives’ Holiday Kitchen

How you doin’? Say cheese, please! Here is my gooey, creamy baked casserole of potatoes, cream, cheese, bacon and onions—it’s a recipe I perfected at the Cordon Bleu in Paris—it is a French iron skillet of food.
 
Here are some of the preparation points for making this dish. Par-boiling the potatoes in generously salted water ensures they're evenly cooked and well-seasoned throughout the casserole. I usually make this dish with French Reblochon cheese, though any soft washed-rind cheese can top my classic dish.
 
The marketing campaign for Reblochon cheese started in the 1980’s, but it wouldn't be correct to say that this casserole doesn't have deeper roots. It is really a variation on a Savoyard dish called Pela des Aravis. Pela des Aravis is made from potatoes, onion, and Reblochon cheese. Tartiflette adds bacon and white wine. And both of those are just variants of the wider Alpine tradition of melting cheese on potatoes that includes dishes like Swiss raclette and Italian tortino di patate alla Valdostana.
 
You’d make a habit of melting buckets of cheese on potatoes, too, if you were freezing your tootsies off every day in the frosty Alps.
 
Reblochon Cheese Potatoes are easy to make. The first step is to par-boil some potatoes. Some recipes have you cook the potatoes from raw in the casserole, but this can lead to the unfortunate situation where the potatoes around the edges of the vessel are soft and tender while the ones in the center are still undercooked. Par-cooking guarantees even doneness throughout. It also allows you to season the potatoes by salting the cooking water generously and infuse them with additional flavors like thyme.
 
After that, you cook some lardons (little quarter-inch thick batons) of bacon, then soften onions in the bacon fat, and finally deglaze it with wine. Toss with potatoes and heavy cream or crème fraîche (the latter adds a pleasant tanginess from the cultured dairy) and top the whole thing with massive rounds of your soft rind cheese.
 
If you can’t find Reblochon Cheese you can use Camembert or Brie—any cheese in the general family of soft, washed-rind cow's milk cheeses that looks like it might be good. It's hard to imagine you could go wrong.
 
Prep time:  10 minutes
Cook time:  75 minutes
Yield:  4 to 6 servings
 
Ingredients 
2-1/4 pounds) Yukon Gold potatoes
2 tablespoons kosher salt
3 fresh sprigs of thyme
1/4 pound slab or thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/4-inch lardons
1 to 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, only if needed
8 ounces thinly sliced yellow onions
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup heavy cream or crème fraîche
1 pound style soft-rind cow’s cheese, cut as directed
 
Directions

1. Read the recipe all the way through before starting. Measure all ingredients and have at your side.
2. Peel the potatoes and cut them into 1/2-inch thick rounds.
3. In a large pot, cover the potatoes with cold water.
4. Season generously with salt, add thyme and bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat.
5. Cook at a low simmer until potatoes are just tender and can easily be pierced with a paring knife, about 25 minutes.
6. Discard the thyme, drain the potatoes, return to pot, and set aside.
7. Adjust an oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350° F.
8. In a 10-inch cast iron or stainless-steel skillet, heat the bacon over medium-high heat until fat begins to render.
9. Lower the heat to medium and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until fat is mostly rendered and bacon is cooked but not crisp, about 5 minutes.
10. If there is excessive rendered fat, drain off all but 1/4 cup; conversely, if the bacon is lean and didn't release much fat, add 1 to 2 tablespoons butter.
11. Add the onions, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until onions have softened but not browned, about 8 minutes.
12. Add the white wine and cook, stirring, until the wine has almost fully cooked off, 1 to 2 minutes.
13. Add the bacon-onion mixture into pot with potatoes and toss gently to thoroughly combine.
14. Add the potato mixture back into cast-iron skillet or into a 3-quart baking dish.
15. Add the cream.
16. Cut the cheese into roughly 1/2-inch-thick slabs. You can do this by cutting the cheese wheels in half to make half-moons; halve wheels through the equator; or slice crosswise into thick planks.
17. Arrange the cheese on top of potatoes, rind side up.
18. Set the skillet or baking dish on top of a rimmed baking sheet to catch the drips and bake until the cheese is melted and bubbling and lightly browned on top, about 40 minutes.
19. Serve the mixture from the skillet or baking dish onto individual serving plates.
20. Leftovers can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

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ChefSecret:  When cooking the bacon, if there is excessive rendered fat, drain off all but 1/4 cup; conversely, if the bacon is lean and didn't release much fat, add 1 to 2 tablespoons butter.
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Quip of the Day:  I told my friend a potato joke, and it was taterly hilarious.
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Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to [email protected]. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/perspectives-on-food
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To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to  Feeding America, Tunnel to Towers, Union Rescue Mission and/or American Red Cross.

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