I think I could probably eat melted cheese everyday and never get bored of it. Melted cheese is comforting, melted cheese is heavenly, I LOVE YOU melted cheese.
A 'Tartine' in French is a slice of bread, it can be simply toasted and buttered or topped with anything sweet or savoury you want. Of course my favourite kind of tartines always include gooey, smelly cheese, always.
The key to making a damned good tartine is using quality sourdough bread. I used bread from Poilâne bakery in Paris. This very old bakery dates back to 1932 and makes amazing sourdough breads in wood-fired ovens. In Dublin you can find it in Sheridans or Fallon and Byrne. If you prefer to buy an Irish made sourdough, Tartine Bakery or Arun Bakery sourdough breads are great too.
Raclette cheese is originally from Switzerland but also produced in Savoie in France. It's a semi-hard cheese made with whole cow's milk and usually eaten during raclette dinner parties. You can use Gubbeen cheese instead of Raclette for an Irish version of this toastie.
My raclette toastie won't take you long to make and is pure comfort food on a plate. If you ever get bored of a ham and cheese toastie and a pint of Guinness, try this with a glass of white wine for lunch. Pourquoi pas?
Raclette Toastie (makes 2)
Ingredients
2 slices of quality sourdough bread
2 slices of raclette cheese
100g bacon bites (or chopped up rashers)
2tbs crème fraîche
1/2 an onion
pepper
Method
Fry the bacon for few minutes (3-4 minutes) in a frying pan and set aside
Peel and slice the onions and cook in the same frying pan for about 10 minutes or until soft and set side.
Preheat your oven to 200C
Spread a tablespoon of crème fraîche on each slice of bread
Arrange the onion and bacon on the bread
Sprinkle or grind some pepper on top
Put a generous (enormous) slice of Raclette cheese on top
Put in the oven until the cheese is melted
You have to it eat immediately and I find devouring it with some green leaves helps in pretending you care about your diet! Enjoy!
