Christmas dinner?

[Guest]

SeaDawg,

Our family enjoys Raclette. We use Gruyère or raclette cheese and small boiled red potatoes for the trays in the bottom. Smash the potato a bit, add the cubed cheese, and put it on the bottom layer to toast. For the grill on the top, we use meat and vegetables. Our favorite meats are tender beef, tuna steak, and large shrimp. We cut the beef and the tuna into large cubes.  For the vegetables we like sliced zucchini, onions, and sometimes yellow squash. We like to have dipping sauces for the food, especially a ginger soy type sauce. It is a great way to gather with friends and everyone always has a great time.

Enjoy!

Kirk

[Mike and Carol]

13 hours ago, SeaDawg said:

So, tonight my neighbors brought me a most unusual Christmas gift, a Swiss two tiered raclette grill. I've never seen, nor used one, but I  think it will be a fun new Christmas tradition for our families to enjoy together. (She was born in France, but her mom has lived in Switzerland for many years.)

If any of you have great recipes or ideas to share, I'd love to see them. 

We lived in France in the 1980’s and enjoyed Raclette with French friends the years we were there.  Our tradition is to do Raclette on New Years Eve.  We try to use Raclette cheese, when we can find it (it seems to be getting more common these days), otherwise any cheese that melts well will do.  We put small potatoes on top of the grill to keep them warm and then put the meat and cheese in the tray to melt.  Then smash a small potato on your plate and scrape the meat/melted cheese on top.  You can do whatever sides you like.  Some of our best memories of France are sharing Raclette with friends.

 

This was last year when it was just Carol and I on the wine barrel.

 

A couple of years ago…

[Guest]

Great photos Mike! Very interesting that we put the meat and potatoes in opposite locations.  Very nice! 👍 

[Mike and Carol]

1 hour ago, Kirk Peterson said:

Great photos Mike! Very interesting that we put the meat and potatoes in opposite locations.  Very nice! 👍 

A good thing about Raclette is you can do whatever you want!  We’ve had guests put potato on their tray with cheese on top.  It’s all good.

[SeaDawg]

I found raclette at my local Aldi, in for the holiday season. Otherwise, Sprouts farmer's market, or the fancier/pricier artisan cheese shop. 

I bought some baby potatoes today, and already have the cornichons,  salami, Prosciutto, and vegetables  in the fridge, and shrimp in the freezer. 

The tuna steak sounds really interesting. I may have to try that!

[Mike and Carol]

We’ve found that Raclette cheese doesn’t smell great when you open and slice it.  It tastes much better!  We usually also do cornichons, salami, pepperoni sometimes, and prosciutto.  You can always substitute other meats and cheeses as needed.  We’ve made caramelized onions which are good on top of your pile of potatoes, meat and cheese.  And, we’ve found that hearty red wine goes well. We do a Cab or Cab Franc.  Our various French friends usually served a nice Bordeaux. Enjoy!

[Overland]

We were actually thinking about getting a raclette grill earlier this year and then promptly forgot about it.  I don't even remember how it came up.  But you guys have rekindled my interest - maybe there's a raclette/fondue party in my near future.

Any recommendations for a grill?

[Guest]

These Swissmar are about 10 years old or so and have a lot of miles on them. They have always preformed perfectly.

[Overland]

Thanks.  That looks like the 1.5 x 2.5 banana model - is that a good size or 4 people?

[Guest]

It is great for four, five would be pushing it, but it would work.

[Overland]

I found this little Swiss camping stove that of course also does raclette - pretty neat, though it doesn't seem to be for sale here. Instructions are printed in English though, so maybe someday  

https://fouclette.com/idees-recettes/