What says ”Fun filled Evening”? RACLETTE! There is nothing more fun than to be with people you love around a table and get to cook your meal right there… while enjoying good wine and conversation! Raclette is complicated you might say… all that veggie cutting in very thin pieces, the meat prepping, the getting the right cheese and let’s not forget all of the dishes. Believe me, once you will have read this, you will find Raclette to be quite easy!
Let’s take a step back… what is Raclette? In reality, raclette is cheese and the fact that it is being served roasted. Nothing says love like bubbly cheese!
Our first experience with raclette was with some friends of ours. I had helped to prepare the meal and it seemed like it took the complete afternoon to cut up the onions, carrots, peppers & meat… we had to chop them very finely in order to have them cook in the raclette rack. Although taste wise it was good, the overall experience left me thinking, I never want to own one of these raclettes.
A few years past since that evening and a few posts in Pinterest on raclette caught my interest. Although it didn’t give any directions on a good raclette, it did give the desire to own one.
Christmas (also my birthday) being just around the corner, I thought this would be a great gift idea. Why not put this on the yearly Christmas list I need to submit to my parents (at my Mom’s request). Every year I need to figure out what I will put on that list (I’m happy with not much!). Since it was almost the only thing on my list, Thanks to my parents, I now own a raclette!
Since I was not a raclette owner, I had to read on the subject. What to do? How to do it? What was best? What meat should I put on the table? What kind of cheese to use? The veggies? After a few articles, knowing the basics, I dived into preparing our first raclette meal for New Year Eve. Oh my, was it good… and not complicated!
This time around, thought I would share with you how we proceed when we are having raclette in our household!
First off, what kind of meat will you be having? The first time, I had marinated some salmon, rubbed chicken with some spices and had marinated some beef (large grilling steak). The salmon & the beef were awesome! The chicken was OK but did not wow anyone. This time around, we decided on having the marinated beef and some shrimps. To marinade my beef, I made the following marinade:
- 1/3 cup of Soy Sauce
- 1/4 cup of lemon juice
- 1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 cup of Olive Oil
- 2 Garlic gloves
- 2 Tbsp of Basil
- 2 Tbsp of dried Parsley
Mix everything together and cover meat for minimum 8 hours. For best results, use grilling steak. Once your beef is marinated, thinly slice it in strips.
Second, the veggies… what to serve? That might be the toughest part! On my end, I had decided on the following:
- 2 potatoes that I had thinly sliced and bleached (2 minutes in boiling water)
- Onions (thickly sliced)
- Mushrooms (thickly sliced)
- Thinly sliced green onions in a bowl
The potatoes were AWESOME… with a little of the sliced green onions on top was simply AMAZING! The broccoli was alright but did not get a WOW from the whole family. The mix of the onions & mushrooms was down right perfect! Make sure that all of your veggies are well oiled with Olive oil. This will help the cooking process in your raclette.
Third, the CHEESE! The cheese is technically the star of the whole raclette. There is a huge variety of cheeses out there for raclette. However, be careful… just like fashion, raclette can be a trend which can cause prices to be high. When shopping for raclette cheese, you may want to look out of combo packages which will give you a variety of cheese for a decent price. If you buy several variety of cheese individually, you will end up with a vary expensive raclette. For our raclette, we opted for a 3 cheese trio which served 2 – 4 people (we were 3 so perfect!). In our trio, we had: Regular cheese, smoked cheese and pepper cheese.
Why aren’t you chopping things thinly?
Good question! Because you don’t have too. The little tray should only be used for your cheese. Yes you read right, ONLY YOUR CHEESE! It can be used if to reheat food like rice if you have such as a side dish. Other wise, that tray should only be used to melt the cheese.
The top grill is used for, well grilling! You should not use the bottom tray to cook veggies. The veggies, just like the meat goes on top, on the grilling surface. Believe me, it makes all the difference!
While you have your veggies & meat grilling, choose the cheese you want to be able to top off with and pop that under the raclette. This will not only melt the cheese but it will make it all bubbly.
Once you meats & veggies are ready, take them on your plate. I like to take a piece of bread and let it soak up the meat/veggies juices from the grilling surface. Pour your melted cheese wherever you want on your plate (I choose my potatoes).
Before you dive into your plate, put on the grill more food and put more cheese to melt. While your second serving is cooking, enjoy your plate of goodness… along with good wine and good company!
We are all the same, juggling work, kids, life and the unexpected! This is why meals like raclette is a great opportunity to stop and take time with family & friends!
Take the time to stop and smell of great food!
