Thanks for all the requests for French recipes mentioned in this column. I was able to wheedle only a few out my French friends and none directly from the restaurants. Although Mimi promised to give me her Trouffade secrets, I never got them. So after I got home, I tried out a few that were given to me orally in French. How scary is that? They all seemed to have lost a little something in the translation and some of the French ingredients are virtually impossible to find here. Fromage blanc is sold in most French markets in the dairy case near the yogurt, which it slightly resembles. Actually, you can substitute ricotta in most recipes.
Anyway, I’m happy to share these, along with my comments on the results from the test-kitchen at Chez Pam.
Trouffade
1 large finely minced or sliced onion
1-1/2 lbs. thinly sliced potatoes
1-1/4 cups fromage blanc (ricotta, shredded cantal, whatever)
1 cup crumbled bacon (real or faux)
Lightly saut onion in a little olive oil. Layer all ingredients in an oiled ovenproof dish. Brush potatoes with oil or melted butter, sprinkle with salt and pepper. (Add dill and chives if you like.) Finish with cheese layer.
Bake 65 minutes at 375 degrees. Serve with a green salad, sliced ham (for carnivores) and crusty French bread.
You can make this dish out of leftover baked potatoes, cottage fries or even coarsely mashed potatoes. Layer with sauted onion, crumbled bacon and cheese and cut the baking time to 20 minutes, or maybe 30 if the potatoes have been refrigerated.
Trouffade resembles a dish called Rapee Morvandelle, only it is much easier to make and, of course, eggless. Julia Child’s recipe in “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” calls for shredding the peeled raw potatoes. This is a real test of one’s devotion to traditional food preparation. Potatoes do not take kindly to this treatment and show their displeasure by immediately turning a vile reddish brown and weeping profusely, necessitating much squeezing and blotting in paper towels. Yuck. The onions and cubed ham must be sauted in oil and butter; then the eggs are beaten with whipping cream, garlic, herbs and grated Swiss cheese. The whole mess, er melange, is then poured into a baking dish lined with foaming butter, dotted on top with more butter and baked for 30 or 40 minutes. Everyone loves it, but until now, I’ve made this dish only once a year (using the leftover Easter ham). From now on it will be Trouffade–much easier and every bit as good.
Picnic Potato Salad
10 or 12 small potatoes (Yukon Gold, white or red)
1 cup onion finely diced
2 cups strong beef broth
1 bunch fresh chopped parsley
For the dressing, mayonnaise thinned to taste with milk, plain yogurt, or a mild vinaigrette
Boil the potatoes about 20 minutes (do not overcook). Drain and cool just to handle comfortably. Slip off the skins, cube and place in a glass or ceramic bowl, cover with broth and soak at least two hours at room temperature or overnight in the fridge. Drain and combine with onion, parsley (and chives or other herbs to taste). Gradually add dressing and toss lightly.
Yukon Gold potatoes are great for this because they keep their firm texture even if inadvertently overcooked. In trying to duplicate the taste and consistency of the salad I had in France, I found the dressing most difficult. The gentleman who made it said he used just a little mayonnaise, but I tried several types and they were all too thick and strong in flavor. The secret is to keep the flavor of the dressing from overpowering the flavor of the broth, so choose the mildest mayo you can find and work from there. If you’re making this for vegans, use vegetable broth, and if they are averse to mayonnaise, try a very mild, thin yogurt dressing. Avoid the impulse to salt. Opt instead for a little pepper, if you must. But keep it simple, at least on the first attempt.
Bon chance!