Truffade from the Auvergne

 

On our recent sortie into the Auvergne we were struck by the dish named Truffade which is a kind of potato pancake.  At the Hotel du Nord In the small village of Egliseneuve d'Entraigue we were treated to a particularly fine example.  As usual with such dishes there are many variations on a theme but the patron here, and I believe it was one of his house specialities, followed this recipe:

Shredded potatoes which are then fried
Strips of Tome cheese
A handful of good quality lardons, fried
Chopped and fried garlic (optional apparently)

Warm the cheese in a frying pan and add to this the fried shredded potatoes.  Add the fried lardons to this. Turn this mix over in the pan and fry on one side a bit like a pancake.  Turn the mix over and do the same on the other side.  Both sides should be brown. 

The result is absolutely delicious and perfect mountain fare.  We had ours served with a fresh green salad and the local dry-cured ham which we thought was the perfect accompaniment.  Truffade is similar to the more popular Savoie based dish, tartiflette. The only obvious difference between the two is that tartiflette is based on a sauce made from milk and cream, Reblochon cheese and onion.  Personally I prefer the drier, more subtle truffade from the Auvergne that omits the milk and cream.

Having been inspired by the truffade we enjoyed so much in the Auvergne, today we decided to concoct our own version adding one or two ideas of our own.  

 

A quick, simple and wholesome dish for the winter

Here is the recipe we tried out with the amounts based on 4 servings.

About a kilo and a half of good earthy potatoes (Bintje are good)
Approx 200g of cheese (a combination of Saint Nectaire and Tome) cut into strips
Approx 200g of good quality lardons
A quarter of a small Scotch bonnet habanero red pepper
2 small shallots peeled and thinly sliced
6 large cloves of pink garlic peeled and thinly sliced.
Small amount of fresh goose fat for frying
A generous handful of Mediterannean herbs, dried will do if you haven't got fresh.
Salt and cracked black pepper to season

Parboil the potatoes in their skins for approx 10 minutes.  Then drain, peel and thinly slice them.

Add enough fresh goose fat to a frying pan to sauté the shallots, garlic and pepper.  I think the goose fat adds that extra dimension of richness and succulence to this dish.  When caremalised set aside and use the same pan to brown the lardons. Add the onion mix and potatoes to the lardons along with the cheese and herbs, salt and black pepper and fry gently until the potato goes brown.  Then turn the mix over in the pan and fry on the other side until this goes brown.  Serve immediately whilst hot.  In the Auvergne you would of course use the local jambon d'Auvergne but back in Ribérac we used jambon noir du Périgord as a darn good local substitute.  We served ours with a fresh green salad and adding a little local produce to the dish, dotted ours around with lightly pan roasted walnuts.  This really draws out the full flavour of the walnuts.

 

Spoilt for choice, any one of these will go a treat with your truffade

From the cellar to compliment the dish I suggest something like a local pinot noir Côtes d'Auvergne.  Although not robust it is a wine of the region so all the minerals apparent in the cheeses will also be reflected in the wine.  If you don't fancy a red then why not try a rather special wine from the Auvergne's mountainous, not too distant neighbour, the Jura.  One of my particular favourites with anything, but especially with a rich cheese dish such as this, would be a Vin Jaune.  If you can locate a Château Chalon all the better, if not try an Arbois, Côtes du Jura  or a L'Etoile.  These are all excellent wines.  Any one of these wines as an accompaniment to the truffade completes a perfect dish for January anywhere!