Raclette Rendezvous

Have you heard of Raclette?  Literally, raclette is a kind of semi-soft cheese, but I (and my neighbors) know it as a type of dinner event…similar to fondue.  A group of neighborhood girls visited our friend, Joanne, last weekend and enjoyed a fun interactive dinner of raclette, wine and great conversation!  Here are the basics…

You’ll need a Raclette grill…which looks like this…

…and then some traditional raclette ingredients in bowls

• raclette cheese of course…we had French and Swiss varieties
• boiled small potatoes (red new or fingerlings work)
• Cornichons…little gherkin pickles
• pickled onions
• pickled cauliflower and any other pickled veggie (we had jalapenos, olives and capers)
• very thinly sliced garlic
• tomatoes
• thinly sliced meats

These are the traditional ingredients…with a few extras thrown in…basically cheese, potatoes and pickled things.

Everyone gets their own little pans, places a slice of cheese on it (with garlic optional) and puts it under the burner.  The cheese bubbles and, when done, just slides onto your plate!  I put mine on top of the potato to make a little stuffed potato…so YUMMY!  The activity is bustling and the conversation & wine flow!

Joanne shared with us that you don’t have to limit yourself to traditional raclette.  They’ve done little pizzas on the top grill, meats etc… be creative!  It’s basically just a hot grill on your table.  Check out these pics that I found online…

I just bought a Raclette/Fondue combo grill and look forward to that crazy dinner party!

You cannot direct the wind, but you can adjust the sails!